Fire and rescue
by Ash505
Summary: My first story. Two girls who met when they were 8, flew with Dusty in the WAG when they were 10 are caught up in a whole new adventure. Join Dusty Crophopper, Crow Patterson and Ashley Jakins as they become firefighters and find out how Ashley got her curse mark.
1. Chapter 1

Fire and Rescue

Chapter One: Dusty's gearbox

Dedicated to the brave and courageous firefighters around the world who risk their lives to save the lives of others.

It only took the win we made in the Wings around the Globe Rally to launch us into a racing career. I'm Ashley Iris Jakins one of Dusty Crophoppers co-pilots. The other one is Crow Mires Patterson my best friend. Unlike Crow and other humans I am cursed so there have been some occasions where I have ticked off a couple of other humans and gotten into big, big trouble. My curse mark is shaped like a propeller surrounded by flames and I know I'm cursed as I did not have it until I was six and got trapped by a dark force. We are now air-racing legends, traveling across the United States and even to a couple different countries around the world to participate in races and make appearances which I would enjoy our arrival in different places more than I do if fans and reporters would stop trying to swarm us the minute we land. It wasn't all about racing for us though. We still made time to be at home in Propwash Junction and be with our friends who live there. Skipper, Sparky, Chug, and Dottie did their best to join us at our races, watching in amazement as we amazed and on some occasions I scared the audience with our teamwork and amazing flying. The best part of racing yet was when I deliberately almost fell off Dusty's wing when I was standing up and got told off by Skipper when we got back. Though proud of our titles as Honorary Jolly Wrenches, Dusty took on his old orange and white paint scheme while I always wore my short dark blond hair tied back in a high pony tail with a headband tied around my head and Crow left her long crow-black hair down with an orange plastic headband in it.

Now it was the middle of summer and with us not racing for a couple of months we had returned home to Propwash for the annual Corn Fest that was coming up soon. Racing never beat the feeling of being home with your friends or in my case I considered them family.

"Awesome picture, guys!" Sparky complemented us, picking up a newspaper outside the Fill N' Fly. "Except, uh, your eyes are closed, Dust."

"Cute" Crow giggled as she peeked at the newspaper.

"Racin' with your eyes closed, huh?" Chug laughed as he refuled Dusty. "So that's your secret!"

"Oh yeah." Dusty nodded. "You figured it out, Chug."

Crow and I snicked before bumping heads behind the boys backs. We almost always wore horse riding helmets racing or not because Crow had a talking horse who could grow wings if need be that we liked to ride. Her name was Cloudy but she did not talk a lot. Our riding helmets were decorated with flames as in some spare time in summer we pretended that we were fire and firefighters to make hosing each other down a lot more fun.

"That was some pretty fancy flying, Dusty." Mayday said coming up. "You and the girls make quite the team. Saw it all on my radio with pictures."

Dusty, Sparky, and Chug blinked. Crow and I snickered

"You mean your TV." Dusty guessed.

"No, no, that's clearing up." Mayday continued. "My bumper was nearly corroded right though. Disgusting looking. Ah, yeah, it was all rusty and blistered."

"Uh ha charming Mayday" I snickered.

"Anyway, what else is going on?" Dusty asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Dottie gave me some of that Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment. Ka-chow!" Mayday spun around, causing the boys, Crow and I to jump a bit when he showed off. Dusty did his best to avert his eyes; Sparky hid behind the newspaper he held; Crow and I slapped our hands over our eyes and Chug, oddly enough, found himself staring. "How's it looking now?"

"Looks great. Fine." Dusty said hurriedly.

"Take a closer look!"

"That's close enough!"

We all jumped when something fell off Mayday's undercarriage.

"What was that?" Mayday asked.

"Nothing!" Crow called. "But you might want to have Dottie check you out later."

"Didn't need to see that." Dusty muttered.

"Oh, hey, hey, guys, guys!" Sparky piped up. "Listen to this, listen to this!' After their Red Bulldozer win, Dusty Crophopper, Crow Patterson and Ashley Jakins ….'"

"That's you." Chug pointed to us.

"'….return to Propwash Junction…'"

"That's here." Mayday said.

"'….where they will be performing at the town's annual Corn Festival.'" Sparky finished excitedly.

"They mentioned the Corn Festival?" Mayday asked, surprised.

"Whoa!" Chug gasped. "It's national news!"

"Seriously?" Dusty asked happily. "That's great!"

"I'll say!" Brodi called from across the way. "The phone's been ringing off the hook here at the motel! Gonna have to get out the inflatable hangars."

"Oh, yeah!" Brodi's wife agreed. "Everybody wants to see you three!"

"It's gonna be the biggest Corn Fest yet!" Dusty agreed.

"Dusty! Crow! Ashley!" Skipper greeted, his propeller spinning. "Ready to do some flying?"

"Absolutely, Skipper." Dusty nodded, dipping his wings and allowing us girls to hop up on him.

"Don't stay out too late!" Mayday called.

"Later, Dust! See ya, Ashley and Crow!" Sparky waved.

"Remember to open your eyes!" Chug chuckled.

Dusty, Crow and I rolled our eyes, but laughed as they made our way to the runway. "Hey, Propwash Tower! This is Crophopper Seven. Flight of two plus two, ready for take-off."

"Crophopper Seven, Propwash Tower." The attendant in the tower said. "Wind's calm. Runway two-seven clear for take-off. Have a great flight, fellas."

Dusty and Skipper took off down the runway, the two planes pulling up into the air. They looped around, flying over Propwash Junction and skimming the corn fields as we headed out to practice.

I let go of Dusty's wing and stood up, spreading my arms and letting the wind blow against me.

"Ashley Iris Jakins!" Skipper barked into the radio.

"Sit down now!" Crow finished the sentence.

I laughed and sat down again.

"I know, I'm not allowed to stand up when flying as I may fall off" I repeated what Skipper told me the first time I did that during a race.

"Snap into those turns!" Skipper called into the radio. We approached the grain silos, threading through them as we practiced our radial-G turns. "Tighten it up! There you go!" Skipper kept close behind us as we shot over the landscape, knife-edging trees and making smooth rolls and turns.

"Now let's work that vertical!" Skipper ordered.

We shot under a bridge over the river, pulling up and shooting up into the clouds. Thank goodness Dusty's fear of heights was long since conquered; otherwise we'd have a repeat of what happened in our first training session with Skipper.

As we cleared the first level of clouds, Dusty's engine began sputtering. An alarm beeped at us and a small warning light flashed on the plane's panel, indicating something was going wrong.

"Dusty?" Crow called worriedly.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I don't know!" Dusty answered, sounding confused.

Then, Dusty's propeller stopped spinning altogether, and he did a flip as he spiralled down towards the ground.

"Dusty!" Crow yelped. Pull up!"

"I…I can't!" Dusty gasped, desperately trying to get his gearbox to respond.

"Dusty? Girls! Are you okay?" Skipper dived down after us.

Dusty's propeller started spinning again, allowing us to stay in the air.

"My…..my engine!" Dusty gasped.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! "Steady there." Propwash Tower, this is Jolly Wrench Seven." Skipper radioed the tower. "We're a flight of two plus two five miles north of the airport inbound for a precautionary landing."

Crow and I exchanged looks. What had just happened?

###############################

Dottie did some preliminary work on Dusty to find out what had happened.

"I don't know what it was." Dusty said as Sparky and Dottie continued working on him. "We weren't doing anything different. Pylon turns, a vertical, like we do every day. I mean, I feel great…..now, but—"

"I've got a love-hate relationship with you, Dusty." Dottie sighed. "Love that you're my best customer, hate what you're doing to yourself."

"Come on, Dot." Dusty scoffed. "You saw me, Crow and Ashley at the Red Bulldozer race. We kicked Aston Martin out there!"

"You're not even listening to what I'm saying." Dottie muttered.

"And hey, Speed City Airfest is just a few weeks away!" Dusty noted. "And girls, I think if we get a little more speed coming out of our turns, really work that radial-G, we can definitely improve our time. Yeah! I'm feeling it! What about you two?"

We laughed from our spot under Skipper's wing.

"Well, no damage to the casing or compressor blades." Dottie reported, coming around to be face to face with Dusty.

"See? I told you." Dusty said confidently. "Just a hiccup."

Dottie's face didn't seem convincing. "But there is—"

"Dusty! Ashley! Crow!" Chug honked his horn as he came tearing into the garage. "What happened? Are you guys okay?"

"It's okay." Dusty assured.

"Was it your fuel?" Chug asked worriedly. "I tested it this morning! I always take a little sip. Gets me going."

"It's okay." Dusty repeated. "The girls and I got quite a little scared there…"

"Him more than us." I teased.

Dusty smirked. "But it's all good news. Dottie gave me the all-clear."

"Dusty!" Dottie suddenly spoke up. "Your reduction gearbox is failing."

Dusty paused. "My gearbox?"

"Your chip detector had a cluster of steel shavings on it." Dottie explained. "Flakes from the gears. That's what caused the trouble. The resulting 'hiccup' is what caused you to fall.

"Don't worry. A gearbox can be replaced." Dusty assured. "We'll order a new one from A-G Parts. It'll be here by the end of the week." He looked to Dottie. "Right?" Dottie's face fell, and her eyes looked everywhere except towards Dusty. The former crop duster didn't smile anymore, staring worriedly. "What?"

We all stared at Dottie, concern etched into their features. Dottie finally sighed. "Your gearbox…..it's…it's out of production. Long since discontinued. Can't even remember the last time I saw one."

"Why would they discontinue it?" Crow asked curiously.

"It's a complex piece of machinery." Dottie explained. "Must've cost too much to manufacture it."

"But Dottie…come on." Chug pleaded. "Can't you just build Dust a new one?"

"No." Dottie said. "It's too complex. It has to be factory."

Dusty could see this wasn't going in a good direction. "Well, I mean, there has…"

"From now on, you have to back off the torque." Dottie told the orange and white plane. "Keep it under eighty precent."

Dusty jolted. "What?! Eighty precent? Dottie, you've got me cranked up to 140. The girls and I need that to race!"

"If you push yourself into the red, your gearbox will fail." Dottie said.

"No, no, Dottie!" Dusty shook his nose, not wanting to hear or believe what the forklift told him.

"And then your engine will seize."

"Maybe the test that you did was wrong!"

"Dusty, listen!"

"But I've got a race coming up!"

"YOU'LL CRASH!"

Dusty went silent, staring at Dottie in shock like most everyone else did.

"You push yourself into the red, you'll crash." Dottie repeated.

Crow and I glanced at each other.

"Look, I'm gonna install a warning light on your panel." Dottie told Dusty.

"A warning light?" Dusty repeated, the shock making his voice weak.

"If it comes on, you'll need to pull power." Dottie instructed. "Slow down."

Dusty stared at the forklift, crushed beyond belief. "But….Dottie, you're…..you're saying…I…..I can't…" He looked to Crow and me. "….that we can't…race anymore."

Dottie stared at them sadly. "I'm so sorry."

Everyone went silent.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Fill N' Fly Fire

Dusty spent the rest of the day moping in his hanger. Crow just listen to me play the songs I knew on my guitar and we did a bit of archery. Later that night, Skipper insisted we joined him at Honkers to cope with the bad news. It seemed to help a little bit as the planes sipped cans of oil, but Crow and I couldn't stop frowning as we lounged on Dusty's wings.

"Dottie's an excellent mechanic." Skipper reasoned. "You know as well as I she wouldn't have said what she said unless she was sure."

Dusty sighed and us girl hopped off his wings.

The four of us looked up as Chug and Sparky called for us, hurrying into the bar and almost ploughing down a waitress on the way. "Dust, listen!" Chug said excitedly. "We just got off the radio with Ethan up in Grand Flaps."

"Old Grand Flaps Ethan!" Sparky chimed in.

"He's got the gearbox?" Dusty asked hopefully.

Chug and Sparky chuckled. "No."

"But his buddy owns twenty-one service hangers!" Chug said. "And he's gonna check his inventory, and he's gonna put the word out for you, Duster! It's a good start, right?"

"It's a great start!" Sparky said. "Can you believe it?"

"There's hope for us yet, Dust Storm." I agreed.

"Because if that gearbox is out there, we're gonna find it for you, buddy!" Chug said determinedly.

"You guys are awesome." Crow said gratefully. "You hear that, Dusty? We'll be out on the race course again in no time having fun!"

"And hey!" The six of us glanced over to see Leadbottom making his way towards us. "If you don't, it's all right! Because the answer is yes!"

"'Yes'?" Dusty repeated.

"What?" Chug blinked.

"Yes?" Skipper raised an eye frame.

"Huh?" Sparky asked.

"Yes, of course you can have your old job back!" Leadbottom said cheerily. "Don't even have to bother asking. That's just the kind of guy I am."

"Leadbottom, I'm sure Dusty appreciates your offer…." Skipper said, trying to sound civil despite how much the biplane annoyed him.

"Of course, you've got to start back at minimum wage, and you lost all your vacation time, gotta go through orientation again." Leadbottom noted.

"Leadbottom, please!" Skipper snapped, casting a look to us girls that told us to keep out of the conversation.

"Once you acquire the taste for Vitaminamulch, you can't live without it!" Leadbottom said confidently. "It's like Mama's jalapeno chilli. Spicy!" His sprayer seemed to backfire, sending a cloud of Vitaminamulch spray flowing behind him and a small forklift fell backwards. "Twice!"

"It's just that now is not the best time." Skipper said.

"Come on, Skipper!" Leadbottom urged, causing the Corsair to groan and roll his eyes. "I can get his sprayer back from that Germany place. Have it cleaned up and bolted back on him in no time."

"I'll tell you what, let me buy you a can of oil." Skipper offered.

"I'll tell you what, Dusty is the best duster I've ever known!" Leadbottom said firmly.

"And I'm telling you that Dusty don't crop dust no more!" Chug countered, he and Sparky coming up to defend their friend.

"That's right!" Sparky said. "No more!"

"He's a racer!"

"A racer!"

"And he's gonna be back to racing in no time."

"In no time!"

"Right, Dusty?"

"Right, Dust?"

Silence.

Everyone turned to the table, only to see a lack of Dusty Crophopper.

"Nice going, you dolts." I said

"What'd we do?" Sparky shrugged.

"You all got him freaked out." I said. "Mostly Leadbottom. But seriously, do you guys think Dusty wants to consider going back to his old job? I don't think so."

"Look, kid's, I mean girls, I admire your support for Dusty." Leadbottom said. "But we all knew this was coming and besides you and Crow turn thirteen at the end of the year and he can't race."

"And what makes you say that?" Skipper demanded, glaring at Leadbottom.

"The guy wasn't built to race!" Leadbottom said.

"He proved everyone wrong when he won the Wings Around the Globe Rally." Skipper firmly.

"And his gearbox being busted only further proves he wasn't supposed to race." Leadbottom said.

"Why should some people be forced into a job while others get a choice?" Crow demanded.

"Some vehicles are built for certain jobs." Leadbottom explained. "It's just how things work. It happens to humans too; some are born for certain jobs and are different."

"Based on that logic, I should've expected to be a regular human girl not the only one in the world who is cursed! It's just how things worked out." I snapped giving him a glare.

Leadbottom opened his mouth to protest, but he immediately shut his trap. Chug and Sparky looked down, but Skipper raised an eye frame at me. Everyone knew that once I brought up curse mark like that, the conversation was over and not to talk back as it might become an argument.

Looking satisfied I rubbed my arm, just below my left shoulder right where my curse mark was and turned to leave.

"Where are you going now?" Sparky asked.

"I'm going to the Fill N' Fly to keep an eye out for Dust Mop. Coming Crow?" I walked out without waiting for an answer but I still herded someone yell 'freak' after me.

#####################

I hate being different! I thought as I kicked a stone as I walked to Fill N' Fly.

"Hey slow down!" Crow called as she tried to catch up with me.

I stopped and let her catch up.

"Do you think I'm odd and freaky?" I asked as she came up next to me.

"Well you are different from everyone else so you are sort of odd but people are wrong when they say you are freaky as you are someone extra special so don't let me hear you say you are freaky again!" Crow answered.

"Thanks Crow" I smiled at my best friend then jumped at the sound of a plane coming into land.

We looked up to see a familiar orange and white plane coming in for a landing. We jumped away from the runway realizing that Dusty's glide was unsteady and jerking. Dusty hit a couple of the lights on the runway. His landing gear hit the tarmac and he bounced a bit before swerving off and towards the Fill N' Fly. Dusty hurriedly applied his brakes. When that didn't work, he tried turning at an angle to use the friction to stop him. We stared in shock and then flinched in surprise and sympathy when Dusty rammed into the support column for the Fill N' Fly. The orange and white plane panted a bit, looking a bit overwhelmed.

"Dusty?" Crow called, beginning to move forward. "You okay?"

Crow, Dusty and I paused when tiny pieces of the propeller-shaped beam bounced off Dusty's nose. We looked up and stared in shock as the column creaked before falling away. Without the support, the prop-shaped roof began collapsing.

KA-BOOM!

We gasped as an explosion erupted, flames bursting to life.

"Fire! Fire!" Dusty shouted as we moved away from the blaze.

We sighed in relief at the sound of a wailing siren and Mayday suddenly screeched to a halt in front of the fire. Somewhat dilapidated fire engine he may be, Mayday still impressed everyone with how quickly he snapped into action.

"Now listen up!" Mayday barked. "We gotta cool this down before it spreads!"

Dottie and Sparky immediately got to work helping, hooking up Mayday's hose to the fire hydrant nearby. Mayday began spraying the water onto the flames. But then, his hose began leaking terribly. Then again, the duct tape that patched up the holes in the old hose was old itself, and when Sparky tried to press his wheels and forks onto the holes he ended up getting tossed aside by the water pressure.

"I got you!" Chug reached his fuel nozzle out and caught the smaller forklift.

"Thanks." Sparky said gratefully. But they all stared in terror as the water stopped streaming from Mayday's hose.

"What now?" asked Chug.

Mayday didn't answer for a second. He had to get the fire down to a controllable level. Then his eyes caught sight of the water tower next to them. "I'm gonna need some help!"

Sparky and Dottie quickly got to work pulling up the large screws that kept the water tower anchored to the ground. Then they helped loop the hose and a couple strong cables around the supports of the tower, hooking the other ends of the lines to Mayday, Chug, Skipper, and Dusty.

"Now pull!" Mayday ordered. "Pull!"

The four of them revved their engines, pulling with all their strength. Finally, there was a creaking sound as the water tower's supports broke and the entire thing began to topple over. Water crashed into the Fill N' Fly. The water snuffed out the flames in seconds, but also made quite a mess of the garage. The water washed away and left only a few large patches of smouldering embers. Skipper thought it may be a good idea to take us girls back to Dottie's hanger to get over the excitement and go to bed. Mayday and Sparky helped him push us along as we did not want to go.

"Dottie, Chug, and Dusty, I need you to watch the fire to make sure it doesn't start up again." Mayday ordered. "Pour some water on it if you feel it necessary, but do it carefully."

"Yes, Mayday." Dottie, Chug, and Dusty said at once.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: How to Save Propwash Junction

As if things couldn't get worse, a huge yellow and white Oshkosh Striker 3000 vehicle came into Propwash the next day, accompanied by a forklift assistant who put caution tape across the burnt remains of the Fill N' Fly and then proceeded to surround Mayday with several orange cones. The poor old fire engine seemed so small compared to the large tanker staring him down with a hard glare. A badge on his fender read "Ryker." We stood off to one side, watching worriedly.

"'TMST'?" Chug read the lettering on the tanker's side questioningly.

"This Means Serious Trouble." Sparky guessed.

Dottie sighed. "Transportation Management Safety Team."

"Mr. Mayday." Ryker said in a very official, very serious tone. "Were you at the specified point of attack and applying an extinguishing agent within three minutes of the time of alarm?"

I glared at Ryker but kept my trap shut so I did not get into trouble.

Mayday tried to not stumble over his words too much. "Well, I didn't have time to look at a clock." He noticed the forklift scribbling on a clipboard. "Is….is that guy writing down everything I say?"

"Yes." Ryker confirmed.

"Well, I…." More scribbling, only making Mayday nervous. "So he just wrote that down?"

"Yes."

"And that?"

"Yes."

"And that?"

"Yes."

Mayday slumped a bit on his tires. "Oh."

"Can you provide me with your self-inspection records and emergency procedure plans?" Ryker asked/demanded.

"Oh, look, now, we don't have many emergencies around here." Mayday said with a small chuckle. "Besides, we did get the fire out."

"Is that your contingency plan, Mr. Mayday?" Ryker demanded. "Every time there's an incident you topple a water tower?"

"This is my fault." Dusty suddenly piped up, drawing everyone's attention to him. "I clipped the tower. I flew out last night because I…" He slumped down a little, unable to continue.

"Dusty, it was an accident." Mayday assured.

Ryker cleared his throat, bringing the attention back to him. "It's clear this airport has no plans for an emergency and equipment from last century. So, unless Mr. Mayday gets refurbished and acquires a second firefighter in accordance with CFR title 14, volume three, chapter one, section 139, sub-paragraph B, I am pulling this airports Certificate of Operation for noncompliance of rescue and firefighting regulations!"

Mayday slumped down again. "Oh, Chevy."

######################################

"Propwash Junction just got shut down?"

"With no active runway, how can anybody land?"

"They can't! That's the problem!"

"Well there goes the Corn Festival."

"But I already finished my corncob costume."

By the end of the day, everyone in Propwash Junction heard the news about the airport being closed. Not everyone heard the details, but they knew the gist.

One, there was a fire that apparently required the toppling of the water tower.

Two, TMST shut down the airport.

Three, the only way to reopen it was to fix up Mayday and find another firefighter to work with him.

Skipper had called everyone to the airport to discuss the problem, but first he had to deal with the uproar of concerned citizens before him. "Now, everybody, calm down. Calm down."

"Calm down? Calm down?" Brodi repeated. "Motel's booked! This Corn Festival is what butters my corn." Several other residents murmured in agreement. Even after our rise to fame, what kept Propwash Junction going was the airport and the Corn Festival.

"Brodi, Brodi, we've already figured this out." Skipper assured. "Dottie, show 'em."

Everyone looked to Dottie and Sparky, standing a few feet from Skipper. Sparky pointed to a drawing of Mayday up on a stand between them. "This is Mayday now." Dottie began.

"I did the drawings." Chug whispered to Dusty.

"We add a new 400-watt siren, a 2,000 GPM roof turret, a high-capacity water tank with integrated class A foam cell—" Sparky took the drawing away to reveal a second one of Mayday looking refurbished. "—and we'll have an all-new Mayday."

Sparky noticed something on the second drawing. "Get out! He gets rocket boosters?"

"That's right!" Chug confirmed. "Fueled by good old hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. Of course, remember, that stuff is highly explosive, so you'll want to keep it away from any open flames."

Dottie and Sparky blinked. "But…..he's a fire truck." Sparky pointed out.

"Exactly." Chug nodded. "Go on, Dottie."

Fuel trucks always put in extra things that take fuel. Crow and I smirked.

"So, for Mayday to keep his job and get Propwash reopened, we just need to find a…..second firefighter…." Dottie trailed off a bit at the end.

"What?" Leadbottom snapped. "At this time of year? It's fire season!" Immediately, another uproar began as the Propwash denizens began chatting worriedly amongst themselves.

"How much is another firefighter gonna cost?" Someone piped up.

"I'll tell ya how much: too much!" Leadbottom scoffed. "If we hire one, we might as well hire two!"

Us girls noticed Mayday quietly drive off, looking quite dejected. Dusty followed the old fire truck soon after. Good. Dusty always knows what to say to make people feel better. We turned back to the Propwash denizens.

"Thanks Leadbottom that was just we needed to hear" Crow snapped

"NOT" I finished the sentence for her and we took off after Dusty.

"I'll start drawing up the plans for Mayday." Dottie said, driving off.

"Hey Dusty!" I called as Crow and I approached with Skipper following us.

The orange and white plane backed up and smiled at us. Mayday rolled out of the fire house to greet us, looking much happier now.

"What's up?" Crow asked.

"I just told Mayday I would be the second firefighter and you two can get certified with me." Dusty explained.

"Only if you three are really up for it." Mayday said. "I'd be happy to have ya."

"Mayday, just tell us what to do, and we'll do it." Dusty said.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: A Spark at Piston Peak

Because the airport was shut down, Dusty would need a different place to take off without having to go to another town. So we went out with Sparky, Chug, Skipper, Dottie, and Mayday to a section of highway outside of town. Cloudy was coming to keep an eye on Crow and me.

"One, two, three, lil' Jon-Jon, and five." Chug counted as a small herd of tractors crossed the highway to another pasture. "Okay, that's it! That's the morning rush. Highway's all clear, Duster!"

"Now, when you get to Piston Peak Air Attack, you're gonna ask for Blade Ranger." Mayday instructed.

"Blade Ranger." Dusty repeated.

"You got it." Mayday nodded. "Yeah. He's their chief of fire and rescue. He's an old friend of mine. He can train and certify you three."

"Consider it done, Mayday." Dusty agreed, starting up his propeller.

"And Dusty, be careful." Skipper said.

"I will." Dusty nodded.

"We'll see you guys at the Corn Fest." I assured as Dusty began taking off.

"Good luck, Dusty and girls! Mayday called.

"Take it easy out there!" Dottie chimed in.

"You can do it!" Skipper encouraged.

"We're proud of you guys!" Chug called.

Sparky cheered for us. "Good luck!"

Dusty was flying off west towards California with us so I was singing under my breath for the first verses of the song before sing the rest aloud.

Breathe it in

I'm gonna shine

It's my moment

Gotta live and live it right

I'm flyin

Flyin so strong

I'm movin'

I'm movin'

I'm movin' on

Never letting go

Gotta learn to grow

Watch me as I touch the sky

Still I fly

Now I know it's what I gotta do

Find a dream that's new

Give it all I got this time

Still I fly

Still I fly

"Your all-time favourite!" Dusty smirked.

"Yep" I answered.

When Crow and I finally saw the mountains and dense forests, we smiled broadly and sighed in relief, knowing the trip was almost over. We passed a train as we flew into the park, writing on the train's side reading "Muir" and "Piston Peak Railway." Crow and I waved and Dusty tipped a wing in greeting, the train smiling and blowing his whistle to greet back. We further into the park, staring in awe at the beautiful scenery. Tourists and campers streamed into the park, taking pictures and talking excitedly. We passed the entrance, where I noticed a sign that read "Welcome to Piston Peak National Park." As Dusty looped around, a geyser went off and shot water into the air. Us girls looked down at the magnificent lodge just below us.

"So where do you think the firefighters are?" I asked.

"No idea." Dusty admitted. "I guess we'll know them when we see them. Mayday said their base is on a mountain somewhere."

"Well that's specific." Crow muttered sarcastically.

The three of us ended up flying over fields, a canyon with a waterfall, and a huge lake before I spotted something in the cliff side ahead of us.

"Hey, I bet that's it!" I pointed.

Dusty looked to where I was pointing and discovered a runway and several buildings resting on a cliff. Lowering his landing gear, he made a smooth landing onto the runway and began taxiing towards the buildings. Us girls dropped off his wings. We looked around and realized everything was quieter than we expected. There were several hangers, a garage, a tower for traffic control and even a helipad or two. It certainly didn't look like a firefighting base. Mellow music played from the speakers on the tower, and the forklift inside was polishing the windows. A green Sikorsky/Erickson CH64 Skycrane sat on a platform next to what must've been his hanger, lifting a dozen logs as though they were barbells. A Native American dream catcher hung from the platform. Outside the hanger next to him, a bright yellow and red SuperScooper hummed to herself as she sunbathed.

"Argh! Stick shift!"

We glanced over to the garage, where a dark blue and grey forklift waved a wheel and groaned in pain, having apparently kicked some canisters. A Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar with the words "U.S. Air Force" printed on his side sat at his hanger, listening to a radio.

"You sure this is the right place?" Dusty whispered.

"Mayday said their base is on a mountain somewhere and this is the only base I have seen" I answered.

"Ripping!"

"Duck!" Crow yelped and Dusty quickly obeyed as a vehicle flew over their heads.

The vehicle landed on his treads and spun around, revealing to be a yellow and black skid street digger.

"Drip!" a female voice shouted right before a small ATV, also colored yellow and black, jumped out from behind the dirt ramp the street digger came off. A vehicle with a saw blade came up on the other side of who I suppose was Drip, and a bulldozer and a digger vehicle with a rake tool rolled up to sit on top of the jump.

Who are this lot? I wondered.

"What the heck is the matter with you?" the ATV snapped. "You nearly took off the guy's canopy!"

"Yeah, but Blackout said it was okay to go, dude." The street digger said.

"I did?" the saw bladed vehicle asked.

"He did?" the female car asked skeptically.

"Yeah, he was like, 'He's okay to go, dude.'" The digger said, using his claws to mimic a mouth talking.

"Uh, I'm sorry." Dusty piped up, catching everyone's attention. "I know you're busy, but we are looking for Piston Peak Air Attack."

"You are there!" the digger cheered.

"Copy that, jefe!" The saw vehicle cheered, the two of them tapped their tools together.

"Serving beautiful V6 Valley since 1958." The small ATV said, looping around us. "You three must be the SEAT and rookie. We heard you were comin'."

The ATV rolled back over to the street digger and saw vehicle.

The car smirked back. "I'm Dynamite. This is Blackout, Pinecone, Avalanche…."

"HELLO!" the bulldozer shouted.

"…and Evel Ke-numbskull over there is Drip." Dynamite finished as Drip spun around and flipped himself to stand on his canopy.

"Did you guys see that?" Drip asked, smiling broadly.

"Nice to meet you." I nodded in greeting. "I'm Ashley Jakins."

"I'm Crow Patterson."

"I'm Dusty Crophopper" Dusty introduced.

"Dusty Crophopper? Dusty Crophopper!"

Dynamite, Blackout, and Drip hurried out of the way as the SuperScooper from before suddenly barrelled forward, a huge smile on her face.

"The air racer?" she squealed, making Dusty flinch. "Shut the hanger door! And you're Ashley Jakins and Crow Patterson! Wow!"

I gave Crow an odd look. How freaky!

"That's so amazing!" the SuperScooper cried happily. "I mean, I'm your biggest fan! I have seen every single one of your races on RSN!" She gave Dusty a quick once-over. "You're smaller than I thought. But that's okay!"

"Um, thanks." Dusty said, a little freaked out by how freakishly huge the SuperScooper was compared to him.

"So what are a set of world-famous racing superstars doing here?" the SuperScooper asked.

"Yeah, uh, we're here because we're between races right now." Dusty explained, trying to not look intimidated by the SuperScooper. "So we're helping out some friends….."

"Oh, that's so sweet!" the SuperScooper cooed. "I'm Dipper. That's what everyone calls me, so you can too."

"Okay, Mrs.…." Dusty started.

"'Miss.'" Dipper corrected.

"Miss."

"Miss, yeah."

"Dipper."

"Dipper."

"Yep."

"Yep. Rawr!"

Crow and I hide our giggles at Dusty's clear discomfort in front of Dipper. We had seen quite a few fan girls fawn over Dusty, but never like this.

"Great to meet you." Dusty said before turning his attention to the rest of the team. "We're looking for Blade Ranger."

"He's out scouting for spot fires." Dynamite said. "He should be back in a few."

"Thanks." Dusty said gratefully.

"The one the Lakota call Haokah beats his drum with the wind to make thunder." The Skycrane spoke, his deep voice surprising us. "With thunder comes lightning, and with lightning comes fire."

Silence for a beat.

He's defiantly gotta be Native American, I thought.

"Okay….." Dusty cleared his throat. "Yeah, very nice."

"Windlifter!" Dipper said hurriedly. "Stop scaring our guests! I don't hear any drums."

"Kilawu." Windlifter looked towards the tower. Everyone followed his gaze.

After a moment, an alarm blared out across the base and a woman's voice spoke over the speakers.

"All aircraft, we've got a report of a wildfire."

"Come on, boys!" the gray tug from the garage called. "Let's load up!" He looked to the forklift in the tower. "Patch! Drop the needle!" After a moment, rock music began blaring from the speakers.

"It's an actual fire?" Dusty asked as the team suddenly sprang into action.

"Oh yeah!" Dipper nodded. "It happens all the time. You guys only hear about the big ones!"

"Fire is due to an unattended campfire." Patch reported. "Location: 10 clicks northwest heading two-niner-seven. Slow rate of spread. Ten acres with a northerly wind on it."

Before our eyes, the laid-back vehicles began darting around and preparing to go to work. The Smokejumpers hurried into their garage and loaded parachutes onto them, speeding out to the Fairchild starting up his engines on the runway. The gray tug sped over to Dipper and locked a hose onto a nozzle on her side, loading retardant into the SuperScooper. Windlifter started up his rotors, waiting for the tug to push over a large cargo container before hooking it on and taking off. The Smokejumpers loaded into the Flying Boxcar, and he and Dipper took off, following Windlifter out into the park.

"We gotta see this!" Dusty said excitedly.

"Yeah, let's go!" I urged, hopping back onto Dusty and he took off after the firefighters.

We flew a safe distance behind the aircraft, not wanting to get in the way. Soon, a huge column of smoke could be seen in the valley.

"There she burn's fellas" Dipper called.

As we came closer we noticed another aircraft already at the scene. The craft disappeared, only to reappear as he burst out of the smoke from the fire. The aircraft, a red and white AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter could only be Chief Blade Ranger. I suddenly an odd tug that felt like my curse mark pulling, at the sight of Blade, but I shook it off. Blade looped up and around, dropping a load of red retardant around the edge of the fire. His icy blue eyes, alert and focused, scanned every inch of the blaze.

"Whoa!" Dusty breathed, banking off to one side to watch but stay out of the way.

Blade caught sight of his team. "All right, mud droppers! Watch your altitude! Too low, and you'll spread the embers. Dipper set up for a drop and vee the head of the fire."

"Copy that! I'm away!" Dipper called, flying down and dropping her own load of retardant.

"Windlifter, you're clear to maneuver." Blade said.

"Windlifter copies." The Skycrane said, flying in and dropping retardant.

Blade flew over the green helicopter, making sure the entire fire had been circled with retardant. "All right, Cabbie! Let's get some wheels on the ground!"

Cabbie, the Fairchild carrier, flew a short distance from the fire. "Jumpers, South Meadow looks clear. Should put you approximately 100 yards below the fire."

Dynamite rolled out as Cabbie lowered his hatch, and she looked down to the clear meadow below. "Looks good, Cabbie!"

"Let's ride the silk elevator, boys!" Drip called.

"I will never understand why you gravel crunchers would want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane!" Cabbie jibed.

"We're not!" Dynamite called. "We're jumpin' out of you!" She and the Smokejumpers leaped out, diving down towards the ground. After a few seconds, they released their parachutes and smoothly glided down the rest of the way, detaching their chutes and landing a little hard in the meadow.

"Everyone's down. We're good." Dynamite reported.

"Cabbie copies." Cabbie said, looping around to get out of the way. "Be careful out there."

"Dynamite, use that creek bed as a natural barrier to create a fire break!" Blade ordered.

Dynamite drove off towards the edge of the fire, barking her own orders to her team. "All right! Jumpers, let's anchor it to the bed and start building a line!" The Smokejumpers got to work, cutting logs and dragging dry pieces of wood away from the flames to prevent spreading.

Blade, keeping an eye on everything, suddenly spotted a herd of deer desperately trying to escape the fire. One of the males was falling behind, in danger of being cut off from the herd and possibly killed. Swooping down, a door slid open on Blade's side to reveal a winch and hook. Flying down smoothly and swiftly, he let out the cable and caught the deer's antler rack in the hook. Blade pulled up, taking the animal with him just as a burning tree hit the spot the animal previously occupied. The helicopter dropped the deer with the rest of the herd, reeling in the hoist.

"Awesome!" Dusty breathed.

I looked ahead and gasped. "Dusty, watch out!"

Too late. Dusty was so focused on what was happening he didn't realize how close he was flying into Blade's path until he accidentally cut off the fire chief.

Blade's surprised expression to the shock fell into a glare as he realized us. "Get out of this airspace!" he ordered.

"Oh, sorry!" Dusty called. Suddenly, he flew right through the retardant Dipper had been dropping, coating us in the red stuff.

"Aw, Dusty!" Crow whined.

"Now we are in trouble!" I groaned.

Dusty looked up and caught sight of Blade as he flew away. The red and white helicopter glared at him with a look that spelled certain doom. Oh great. We're dead.

###################

Dusty yelped as the grey tug hosed us down to get the retardant off. Unfortunately, while it did make us clean, it also left us girls sopping wet and a little cold.

The tug nodded in satisfaction. "That ought to do it. Well, back to work. I gotta mix up a fresh batch of retardant."

He rolled off into the garage to get to work. I pulled off the jumper I was wearing and wrung the water out of it. Blade stood nearby, casting the us a very uninterested and stern glare.

"And once you three dry out, you can wing it on back to the lodge with the rest of the tourists." Blade ordered, beginning to roll off.

"We're not tourists." I protested as I spread my jumper on Dusty's wing to dry.

"Actually, we're the ones that May—" Dusty started, stumbling a bit over his words.

"They're the trainees." Windlifter said.

Blade paused, turning to stare at us. "You're the ones Mayday radioed about? Oh for the love of—"

"Oh come on, Blade!" Dipper said excitedly. "They're not just anyone. It's Dusty Crophopper, Ashley Jakins and Crow Patterson!" Dusty tried to warn Dipper against it, but she continued. "The champion air racers!"

"'Champion.'" Dusty scoffed modestly. "No big deal."

"Don't be shy, come on!" Dipper encouraged. "Tell him! They raced all the way around the world!

Dusty chuckled nervously, not liking the deadpan, unblinking expression in Blade's eyes. "Well, I mean…."

Blade glared.

"We did." Dusty finally nodded. "We did do that."

Blade rolled up a little closer to us. Staring. "The world wasn't on fire though, was it?"

Us girls blinked. So did Dusty. "Was the whole world on fire?"

Us girls and Dusty shared a look. "No" we answered at the same time, Dusty a little more nervous.

Blade stared at them for a moment, making a "hmm" sound. Finally, he turned to the tug in the garage. "Maru!"

"What?" Maru shouted indignantly.

"Rip off his landing gear!" Blade ordered.

"Uh, wait, what?" Dusty gasped.

Maru chuckled deviously, dropping his welding mask and firing up his torch.

 **A/N: Having fun writing this fanfic. I've decided to tell you which chapter you will find out about Ashley's curse mark. It's chapter fourteen. Please review.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Firefighters…NOT

Crow and I sat off to one side, watching Maru work. Once Dusty got over his moment of shock, he allowed Maru to remove the tip tanks from his wings and attach a set of pontoons. Maru sang softly as he worked, putting the finishing touches on the modifications.

"Still, it does feel kind of weird. You know, without the tip tanks." Dusty mention

"Tip tanks?" Maru scoffed. "You couldn't exactly go flying into fire with fuel tanks on your wings. Ka-boom! Nope, you're gonna need these pontoons. They may be old—"

"Old?" Dusty blinked in surprise.

"—but they'll let you scoop water right off the lake." Maru finished.

"You're goofing on me." Dusty said hopefully. "You have any new ones?"

"New?" Maru laughed as he flipped his welding mask up. "We don't even know what that word means around here!" He tapped the pontoons, kicking up dust and making Dusty cough. "I rebuilt these babies myself. They're better than new. Give 'em a go."

"Huh?" Dusty tentatively began rocking on the pontoons, tilting and swaying. "All right. Let me just get this…..this….."

He began muttering and yelping a bit as he found he had no control over his movements. Us girls ducked and crouched down as Dusty's wing flew over our heads, smacking Maru's welding visor back down.

"Pop the wheels, genius." Maru droned.

"The whee…..yeah, pop the wheels!" Dusty rolled his eyes, unable to believe he didn't think of that. He popped out the wheels, allowing him to bounce up a few inches and roll around. "Oh! That's it!"

"Yeah, you think?" Maru smirked as he put his mask and torch away.

"Yeah, I'm tall! Look at this." Dusty smiled. "What do you think you two?"

"I think you'd make a clumsy boat if we put you on the ocean." I teased, laughing as I retrieved my jumper from where it landed and tied it round my waist.

Dusty mimicked my laughter, but he caught sight of something on the wall across from him. "Hey! You guys have a Wall of Fame, just like the Jolly Wrenches!"

"Oh, awesome!" Crow said, as we joined Dusty to see a section of the wall featuring photos of aerial firefighters and a couple newspaper clippings.

"So what's the deal?" Dusty asked. "What do you have to do to get your picture up here?"

Maru paused, staring at the ground. "Crash."

Dusty's face fell saying "Oh" in a soft voice.

"Yeah, dangerous work." Maru said, organizing the garage. "But that's the job of a firefighter. Risking their lives for people they don't even know. They fly in when others are flying out." He paused. "Takes a special kind of plane. And immense bravery on your part girls."

"Come again?" I asked still staring at the newspaper clippings.

"Humans who become firefighters are at a greater risk than vehicles." Maru explained. Which is why you two coming here might prove to be a challenge."

"And that why you three need to learn to obey orders."

The four of us turned to see Blade, having quite suddenly appeared in front of the garage.

"I also believe that you girls know this thing" Blade glared and moved back to reveal three terrified male smokejumpers and a pretty angry Cloudy.

"Yeah she's mine" Crow answered.

"Then calm her down" Blade growled.

"Ok Mr Sour Puss" I snapped and matched his glare.

No one said anything as Crow and I went and calmed Cloudy down.

########################################

"Fighting wildfire means flying low. And that's why we have Augerin Canyon, our own little obstacle course." Blade instructed, as we flew over the canyon to begin training. Crow and I tightened our grip on Dusty's wings. We had to admit, the canyon was rather majestic.

"All you gotta do is stay below the rim and when you get to the bridge, fly under and pull out." Blade told us.

"Flying low. No problem." Dusty assured in a somewhat cocky manor.

"Overconfidence. The kind of attitude that could get you killed." Blade growled, breaking off and flying up as Dusty dove down.

"Ready, co-pilots?" Dusty asked, diving down and beginning to weave his way through the rocks of the canyon.

Blade watched from above, keeping at the same pace as Dusty.

Blade noted how close we were getting to the end. "Okay, now let's see you make it under that bridge." He saw Dusty speed up, but suddenly pull back again and bail out of the maneuver. "Why did you pull power? You gotta firewall it!"

"The bridge. It's too close to the falls." Dusty said.

"No excuses." Blade barked. "If there had been a downdraft, you'd be dead."

##############################################

Dusty watched carefully as Dipper demonstrated the next lesson: how to scoop up water, this time off the lake.

"Make a normal seaplane approach." Blade instructed. "Stay on the step while collecting water through the scoops. Climb out loaded, return to your holding orbit, and drop as directed. Copy that?"

"Copy that!" Dusty said, lowering his scoops on the pontoons.

Crow and I yelped a bit when Dusty bounced off the surface of the lake.

"Okay, you've got twelve to fifteen seconds to scoop then fifty feet to climb out." Blade said, watching with some disappointment as Dusty skipped across the lake like a stone. "And watch out for the tree line!" He rolled his eyes as Dusty quickly pulled up and narrowly avoided the trees.

##############################################

Thankfully, for both Blade and us, the next lesson involved a lecture from Blade about the rules of firefighting and different techniques for dropping water and retardant. Maru joined us with a chalkboard and pointer. We did their best to pay attention. But we were not fully prepared for the amount of information thrown at us.

"Indirect attack, parallel attack, direct attack."

"Know what your fire is doing at all times."

"Wind speed and direction."

"Temperature and relative humidity."

"Finally, all aircraft must be on the ground thirty minutes after sunset." Blade finished. "Flying low at night is the fastest way to get your picture on the Wall."

##############################################

Dusty found himself rather bad at dropping water. He at first attributed it to lack of practice crop dusting, but at least when he worked with Leadbottom he wasn't working with a target. Or, in this case, a line of flaming barrels set up on the runway by Blade. Blade hovered near the barrels, watching Dusty try and put out the fires.

Round one: "Too early!"

Round two: "Too high!"

Round three: "Too low."

"Those crops of yours, they die a lot?" Blade asked.

Dusty glared in irritation. Oh I'll show you.

##############################################

Dynamite and the rest of the Smokejumpers decided to take Crow and me out to teach us how to be one of them.

"What we do is help build a line and clear debris so that the fire can't spread as quickly." Dynamite explained. "It requires quick and hard work to do this."

Dynamite showed us how to do it and then got us to have a try. I managed to do it with Crow without activating my curse mark even though it would be easier. I did not want the base to find out I was cursed until I needed to use it. Also I did not want to freak anyone out and any way is I had to do ground work I would not need it. Hopefully!

##############################################

The second time we went out to Augerin Canyon, we did ok until we got to the bridge.

"Approach looks good." Blade said over the radio. "Now, increase your airspeed. Redline it."

"Let's do it this time, Dust Storm." I encouraged.

"Go to max torque." Blade ordered. Dusty began picking up speed, but his alarm instantly went off.

"Don't back off." Blade warned. "Don't back off!"

Dusty pulled up and out of the canyon.

"Ah, why did you bail out again?" Blade growled. "If you don't push it, you're not gonna make it. And you won't be certified!"

 **A/N: Sorry if i confused you a bit in the part where the smokejmpers took us out to teach us. I confused myself a bit with it to. Please review. Chapter 6 coming soon.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: The news and lodge superintendent

Crow and I stared at the park below us as we all made our way back to base after training. Suddenly, Dusty began speeding up, eyeing a trail of smoke in the near distance. Our girls eyes widened when we saw what Dusty was doing. "Dusty, wait! That's not—"

Too late. Dusty dropped some of his retardant right onto fire…and the campers sitting in front of it.

"Good job." Blade said. "You just saved those folks from a nice vacation."

Dusty groaned.

###############################

"Propwash Junction to Dusty, Crow and Ashley. Come in Dusty, Crow and Ashley! This is Propwash Junction!" Skipper's voice said over the radio in their hanger.

Dusty hurriedly answered. "Hey, Skipper!"

"Hey! How's it going?" Skipper asked.

Dusty sighed a bit. "This is tougher than I thought, but it is so good to hear from you."

"Well, we wanted to radio—" Skipper started.

"Hey, Skip! Let me tell 'em!" Chug called excitedly.

"Oh, all right, Chug." Skipper said.

"Tell us what?" Dusty asked, hoping it wasn't more bad news about the airport.

"Okay!" Even over the radio, Chug sounded like he was ready to burst from excitement. "That….we….." He couldn't stop chuckling hysterically. "Oh, I can't! You tell 'em, Sparky!"

"So, okay, there's this fella out in California." Sparky explained.

"California!" Chug repeated.

"The Skipper and I know him from back when we were stationed in Coronado."

"Near San Diego!"

"We all used to go down to Baja."

"Near Coronado!"

Sparky laughed. "Oh boy, there was this one time we went to this bar, and Skipper put a hula skirt and coconuts on his—"

"Sparky!" Skipper barked, silencing the forklift.

Hula skirt? Coconuts? Crow and I exchanged an odd look and a snicker.

"The point is he has one of your gearboxes!" Sparky said.

"We got the gearbox!" Chug said happily.

"You got the…..you got the gear….." Dusty's face broke into smiles. "Are you kidding me?!"

"Oh, wait! It gets better!" Sparky said. "He's gonna ship it out tonight!"

"We'll have it in a couple of days!" Chug called.

Crow and I cheered, hugging Dusty.

"This is the best news!" Dusty sighed happily. "This is just what I needed to hear right now."

"We'll let you know as soon as we get it!" Dottie called from the background.

"Hey Dusty, girls! Listen to my new siren!" Mayday called. A second later, a strange squeaking sound came from the radio. Dusty stared, blinking a bit, while Crow gave me a look and tilted her head to one side in confusion. The sound stopped after a moment. "Huh?"

A pause, then Dottie came on. "Yeah…..I haven't actually hooked up his siren yet."

"Can't wait to see ya!" Sparky said.

"All aircraft, be advised, Superintendent Spinner has entered the base. I repeat, Superintendent Spinner has entered the base." Patch said over the intercom. Someone was honking their horn loudly in the distance.

"Hm, something's up." Dusty realized. "Gotta go, guys!"

Bye everyone!" I called, we moved out to investigate.

Maru was doing tune-ups on Dipper and Windlifter.

"Hey, what's with all the ruckus?" Dusty asked as we approached.

"Eh, park superintendent." Maru scoffed.

"He waxes himself. Daily." Windlifter said causing snickers from Dipper and Maru.

A Cadillac drove up to the base, a Piston Peak National Park logo on his sides and his paintjob a glistening, sparkling white. He looked far too pristine for a park manager, more suited to the city than a forest.

"Honk-honk, beep-beep!" The Cadillac called obnoxiously. "Park Superintendent coming. I sign your paychecks! Anybody gonna greet me? Yes, you are!"

Maru rolled his eyes. "I got some oil pans to change." He drove off; clearly not keen on sticking around much longer.

"Blade, Blade, Blade." The Cadillac said as he approached the fire chief.

"What do you want, Cad?" Blade demanded.

"That's a big hill." Cad sighed. "Listen. Do you think I like driving all around over here and up there, over there just to complain? Answer: no, I don't. But I heard from some campers that one of your staff just soaked them with that red fire phosphorescent stuff that you use. The deodorant."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. That was my fault." Dusty piped up.

"The team needs to train." Blade told Cad. "There's gonna be some mud spilled along the way."

Cad apparently found a sudden great interest in us.

"Are you kidding me?" Cad laughed.

"No, that's the way it works." Blade growled, rolling his eyes and turning as Cad made his way over to us.

"No, you are not!" Cad said happily, looking to Dusty, Crow and me. "Blade, you're hiding a world famous racer right here at Piston Peak! Ripslinga!"

Dusty, Crow and I blinked.

Dusty cleared his throat. "It's…..Crophopper."

"Crophoppa!" Cad corrected.

"Dusty." The former crop duster introduced. "And this is Ashley Jakins and Crow Patterson."

We just glared.

"Aw, right! They are your cute little pilots!" Cad cooed.

I hate it when people say that Crow and I thought and glared at him.

"Me, Cad Spinner." Cad introduced. "You, one fast plane! What are you doing up here?"

Dusty perked up a bit in pride. "Well, I'm getting certified—"

"Doesn't matter." Cad interrupted. "Tomorrow night. The lodge. Grand reopening party. You're invited! And your little pilots can come too. I'm thinking high-speed flyover. What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking it'll be…it'll be dark." Dusty noted, remembering what Blade said about flying low at night.

"And I think you are a total numskull idiot!" I snapped at Cad and I heard Dipper and the smokejumpers who were listening behind the hanger snicker.

Cad didn't seem to notice the insult I had said. "Hey! There's gonna be a lot of VIPs. 'Very Important Planes.' How would you like to rub tires with the Secretary of the Interior of the United States…..of America? I smell photo op! Flash! Cha-ching! Ya gotta do it, come on!"

"I smell somethin' else." Blade noted, mostly to Windlifter and Dipper beside him.

Cad rolled his eyes, looking to the fire chief. "Blade, Blade, Blade. Can I explain something? Yes, I can. Look, spilling mud on people makes for sad campers. Big party at my lodge makes for happy campers! You understand?"

"You've packed too many 'happy campers' into the park." Blade snapped. "And way too many into that lodge."

"Oh, we've got a structural fire engine down there protecting it." Cad assured.

"This isn't just about protecting the lodge." Blade protested. "There's low humidity, a lot of dead wood, and we're already short on resources as it is."

Dipper moved over to us and the four of us watched Blade and Cad argue. She whispered, "He got the Park Service to shift eighty precent of our budget to his lodge restoration project."

"This base is held together with baling wire and duct tape!" Blade snapped. "Maru had to rebuild that old tower himself!"

In the distance, Maru called, "It's better than new!"

"Hear me, fellow forest friends, dirty though you may be." Cad called, clearly not taking an interest in Blade's words. "This is an historic weekend." A ringing sound rang out, and an antenna rose from Cad's headlight. "Cad, you got thirty seconds. Go. Ah, I don't care how much it costs! Yes! Get the crystal glasses! Yes, fluted! Were you born in a barn? Come on! The lodge is only gonna be grand-reopened once. I'm not gonna—" He caught sight of the firefighters glaring at him. "Could you hold on a second?" He reversed and drove over to park next to some dumpsters. "Then fire the old lady and get somebody who can get them!"

Cad finally returned, a smirk on his face. "You're not the only ones who can put out a fire, right?" He looked to Dusty. "So will I see you at the party? Yes, I will!" He clicked his tongue. "Superstar!

"Can you believe it? Dusty Cropslinger! He and his pilots are even more famous than you, Blazin' Blade!" Cad said as he drove off.

Blade watched Cad leave before sighing in frustration and rolling off.

Dusty looked to Windlifter and Dipper. "'Blazin' Blade'?"

"Shh!" Dipper said hurriedly.

"What, me shush?" Dusty asked, Dipper continuing her efforts to silence him. "I just said 'Blazin' Blade'."

"Kilawu!" Windlifter finally said. Past experience showed this translated to "Quiet!"

"What?" Dusty whispered.

"Tonight." Windlifter said. "Main hanger. Tell no one. Especially Blade. And you can bring your horse."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Blade's secret.

That night, as instructed, we made their way to the main hanger where, hopefully, we'd get some answers to this Blazin' Blade Mystery. Every other hanger was dark, even Blade's.

A few rattling sounds came from inside the hanger, and a metal slot opened up in the door to reveal a green eye staring out at us.

"AH!" we gasped, jumping in surprise but soon calmed when we realized it was only Maru.

"Password." Maru whispered.

"Password?" Dusty repeated. "You didn't tell us—"

"Shh!" Maru shushed.

"You didn't tell us a password." Dusty whispered.

"It's 'inferno.'" Maru whispered.

"Oh, okay." Dusty nodded. Maru frowned, before we whispered "Inferno."

The slot closed, and Maru pulled open the doors. "Glad you could make it! You like 'inferno'? It was either that or 'maelstrom' but that one's so Nordic."

"Park it over here, Dust Storm!" Dipper called. "Our first date and I saved you a spot!"

Crow giggled as Dusty moved over to Dipper. I curled up in a tight ball near Avalanche while Crow dropped down under Dusty's wing.

Maru moved over to some cans on a shelf and pulled out a video tape. The case read…. "Howard the Truck?" Dusty asked. "You invited us here to watch—"

"Dude, dude, dude, judge not a video by its cover." Drip said.

Maru popped the video out of its case, pushing it into a VCR and everyone directing their attention to the TV before them. I loosened my grip around my legs a bit but remained in a loose ball. After a brief commercial, some sort of disco-genre tune came on. Soon, we could see glimpses of two helicopters flying over an L.A. highway. The title came on: CHoPs. Then, we saw the actors: a familiar AgustaWestland and a Hughes 500D helicopter.

Blazin' Blade Ranger and Nick Loopin' Lopez.

"Hold on." Dusty finally got over his shock. "Blade was a TV star?"

"139 episodes of law-breaking love." Dipper sighed, only to be shushed by the rest of the team.

We sat down to watch the episode. Blade and Nick arrested crooks, rescued trapped vehicles and people from a fire, and ended up scoring a double date by the end of the show. When Blade used his hoist to rescue a vehicle, everyone shouted "Hoist!" and took a sip of their oil, indicating a drinking game. I studied the two actors closely. Nick, he was a bit hot-headed but seemed quite passionate about his job. Blade usually seemed to be the one to calm down the smaller helicopter and stop him from doing something stupid. Blade seemed…..happy. He even had a catchphrase—a catchphrase of all things—that he would say to Nick: "Good move, partner." For once, he wasn't using that sarcastic, sense of humour we knew. He was laughing and smiling and looking so much different than the fire chief of Piston Peak Air Attack. I let my mind wander back to what had happened when we first arrived wondering if the actor, Nick Loopin' Lopez had something to do with it.

"Dudes, let's watch episode 38, 'Super Copter'!" Drip said excitedly.

"'Super Copter'?" Cabbie scoffed. "This show stinks."

"What are you talking about?" Dynamite said incredulously. "This show is the best!"

"I'm with Cabbie." Windlifter agreed.

Dusty rolled forward a bit. "Hey guys? Guys!"

"QUIET!" Avalanche shouted, silencing the commotion.

"Thanks." Dusty nodded. "I just don't get something. If Blade was such a big TV star, what is he doing here?"

"I don't know." Drip admitted.

"WE DON'T KNOW!" Avalanche confirmed.

"It's a mysterious mystery." Drip said.

"It's like my fiancé." Pinecone sighed. "He just vanished! Poof!"

"Whoooooooo!" Drip moaned creepily.

"From my experience, this kind of stuff is classified." Cabbie said.

"BLACK OPS!" Avalanche agreed.

"I heard he went cuckoo on the set." Blackout said.

"You know, probably top secret." Cabbie noted.

"CIA!" Avalanche screamed.

"I'm sure he could tell us."

"YES!"

"But he'd have to kill us."

"I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

"Whatever the reason is, it's his business and we're not asking." Dynamite said.

My thoughts lingered on Nick Loopin' Lopez, and I realized just how close he and Blade seemed to be. Then I realised that I was feeling the tug again. But why?


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: First Fire

The next morning I was woken by Crow tipping a bottle of water on my head and in my ear. When I looked at the clock I realised I had over slept. Crow told me that Blade had told her to wake me up.

Then, the siren went off.

"All aircraft and jumpers, lightning storm came through." Patch reported. "We've got multiple starts north of Skyline Drive, east of Coil Springs."

Blade lowered himself onto the base runway, Windlifter, Dusty, Crow, Dipper and I coming up to meet him. "Lightning storm started a whole slew of spot fires and they've merged. This is a big one."

"Winds are out of the southwest with a moderate rate of spread." Patch said.

Windlifter looked to the treetops, noticing how they swayed a little. "Rapid."

"Wait, we have an update: rapid rate of spread." Patch announced.

"Dipper, you and Windlifter load up." Blade ordered. "Champ and girls, wait in the hanger."

"What?" Dusty asked, disappointed.

"Blade, they have been practicing so hard." Dipper protested.

"This ain't no campfire." Blade growled.

"Come on, I can do this!" Dusty insisted.

"You're not certified." Blade snapped.

"Just give him a shot." Dipper practically pleaded.

Blade cast her a glare. "He's not certified!"

"We need every plane we've got." Windlifter finally said. Blade regarded the larger helicopter for a moment before turning his gaze to Dusty as the racer approached.

"I want to help." Dusty said firmly.

The helicopter stared at us as he started up his rotors, turning to fly off. "Maru!"

"Yeah, Blade?" Maru asked.

"Load him up!" Blade ordered, flying off.

"Uh, okay!" Maru agreed, pulling a retardant hose over to Dusty. He began filling the racer's pontoons, disappearing and then reappearing with a camera. He snapped a picture of us.

"What was that for?" Dusty asked.

Maru smirked. "The Wall."

######################################

Finally, we understood what a "big one" meant. This fire was much larger than the first fire we saw, almost twice the size. Immediately, everyone got to work. The Smokejumpers did their jobs, the aircraft did theirs and Blade got Crow and me to keep an eye on the smokejumpers just for something to do. But the fire wasn't going out as quickly as I had hoped.

"Dipper, move into position." Blade ordered. "Split load. Coverage level eight."

"Dipper copies!" Dipper reported, dropping her load of retardant around the fire.

"Come left one wingspan on your next drop." Blade said. "Champ, tag on and extend. Split load."

"Copy that." Dusty said, moving in for a drop. Unfortunately, he didn't fly low enough and his retardant blew away in the wind.

"Too high!" Blade barked. "It all dispersed! Windlifter, finish off that ridge."

"Windlifter copies." The Skycrane said.

I looked over Dusty's wing and saw what looked like animals. Well they were animals, if you counted the wild threesome of Blackout, Avalanche, and Drip. "Blade, Smokejumpers are on the move."

"Copy that." Blade said.

"Blade!" Dynamite suddenly called into the radio. "We got a situation! The wind shifted. The fire jumped the line."

"Can you make it to your safety zone?" Blade asked.

"No, no good!" Dynamite said. "Our escape route is blocked. We need a drop."

"Copy that." Blade said.

Blade looked down to see his ground crew. "Dipper, Smokejumpers trapped. Left flank, set up for a drop."

"I see them!" Dusty suddenly said, diving down. "I've got it!"

"Dusty, wait!" Crow called as we shoot towards the Smokejumpers' position. Dusty perfectly dropped his retardant and snuffing out the flames around the Jumpers (while also staining the vehicles bright red).

"All right. We're clear." Dynamite said. "Let's move! Let's get to the lake!"

"That's my Dustmuffin!" Dipper cheered.

Dustmuffin? Oh he is never living that one down! I thought with a snicker

"Champ, load and return but leave the girls with Dipper." Blade ordered. "We still got a lot of work to do."

"Copy that!" Dusty turned, dropped us girls on Dipper's wings and hurried back to base.

"Dipper fly down and drop the girls off with the Smokejumpers." Blade instructed. "They will help to keep the fire away from the safety zone."

"Copy that." Dipper said dropping us off where the vehicles rested on a small, sandy area next to the lake.

"Just stay near the lake you two." Dynamite said, her voice fully serious. "Not much we can do now until it burns over."

We nodded and moved to stand amongst the Smokejumpers and watch the fire rage on.

######################################

It literally took all day to get the fire under control and fully contained. By the time everyone got back, they were all pretty dirty and covered in smoke.

Dusty and Dipper were talking, the latter looking rather proud of himself. "I saw the Jumpers in trouble, so I —"

"You broke formation in a crowded airspace." Blade growled with a stern glare in his eyes. "Could've been you spread all over the woods instead of retardant. Don't go planning your certification party yet, Champ." He drove off, no doubt to hose down like the others would soon do.

Dusty slumped down a bit. "Ah, man."

"Come on, Blade's just telling you 'Good job' in his own way." Dipper said encouragingly. Dusty cast her a look. The sound of loud engines rang out and we all looked up to see a jet passing over the base. "Whoa! That was low!"

"Cad's VIPs." Windlifter realized.

"Oh yeah, that's right." Dusty remembered. "He's having a big party up at the lodge tonight. We should go!"

"A second date?" Dipper chuckled, looking excited.

"No, I meant all of us." Dusty said, looking mostly to Dipper. "You know you and me and the girls and Cloudy and Windlifter, and just everybody."

"Oh! Okay." Dipper looked a bit disappointed, but nodded. "You're right. I should get to know your friends."

Dusty stared at her. "But they're your friends."

"Well, yeah, I guess." Dipper chuckled before driving off towards the showers. "Let's not bicker."

Dusty cast a look to Windlifter, who raised an eye frame at him. And Maru thought it was a good idea to squirt us girls down with the hose but luckily on my part I had left my jumper in the hanger so it was still clean and dry as it was starting to get cool. Maru still got a death glare from me.

 **A/N: You may have noticed that Cloudy in not mentioned a lot. The reason is because when i first started to write this Cloudy was suppose to stay in Propwalsh but i changed my mind. And i keep mixing my self up and forgetting her.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: The lodge

The Fusel Lodge was all aglow for the party, bustling with people. Dusty, Crow, Maru, Dipper, Windlifter, Cloudy and I approached the lodge entrance and were greeted by a couple attendants.

"Whoa!" Dusty breathed. "Look at this place!"

"It's so beautiful!" Dipper sighed. "Dusty-poo, this is the perfect date! Let's check it out before we check in."

"Hey there, folks." A bellhop greeted. "Like to get your picture taken with the superintendent?"

We followed the bellhop's point to a line of campers getting their pictures with Cad. But "Cad" then fell over to reveal a cardboard cut-out.

"Uh….." Dusty blinked.

"Ha. Classy." Maru smirked.

"Well, the place looks nice." I shrugged.

"I need a coffee." Maru said. "You three want to come?"

"Ok. Bye Dusty! Bye Dipper! Enjoy your date!" I said as Crow, Cloudy, Maru, Windlifter and I moved away.

Dusty glared at me.

##################################

"Don't even have normal coffee here. I had to get something called a 'Highway Expresso.'" Maru scoffed

"What do you think?" Windlifter asked, the Skycrane wearing a pair of tinted sunglasses.

"You look good." Maru complimented.

"Yeah." Crow and I agreed.

Windlifter paused in thought. "Eh."

Crow and I jumped when some fan yelled out our names. Maru snickered when we allowed the fan to have his picture taken with us.

"Hey guys!" Dusty called as he rolled over to us. "We just met a nice couple celebrating their anniversary. We're gonna go out of the fire pit and celebrate. Wanna come?"

"Yeah, let's go!" Maru agreed. "It's getting stuffy in here."

Us girls hopped up onto Dusty's wings and sat down "You just missed it." Dusty said with a smirk. "Some fan came up to me and asked me to do his voicemail."

Crow laughed. "Really? Did you screw up?"

"Nah." Dusty laughed. "He seemed a little disappointed to not see you, though."

"Oh really?" I smirked. "Well one got his picture taken with Crow and me."

########################################################

At the fire pit we had fun chatting with our new friends Harvey and Winnie.

"Oh, sure, sure." Harvey nodded. "I've been around the block a few times. I worked as a taco truck, sold carwash curtain rings for a while. Then, I got into RV tire sales. Winnie here was my showroom model."

"That's how we met." Winnie explained.

"Ah, nice." Dusty smiled, Maru nodding as though in approval.

"It's true. For our wedding day, bought her the best set of whitewalls." Harvey said.

"We wore off the treads on our honeymoon." Winnie added. Dusty and Maru blinked. "Driving." Winnie said. The boys seemed very relieved to hear that second part.

"You know, Dusty, Ashley and Crow, maybe this firefighting thing will be a second career for you." Harvey said.

"Oh, yeah!" Dipper nodded. "This is a second career for all of us. Windlifter was a lumberjack, Cabbie was in the military, and me, well, I hauled cargo up in Anchorage. Yeah, a lot of guys up in Anchorage. I was beating them off with a stick. 'Come here, boy. No!' Boom!"

"Hey, big whirlybird, you haven't said much." Harvey said to Windlifter. "How about a toast?"

"Uh, Windlifter's not really much for speeches." Dipper protested politely. She quieted when Windlifter began chanting in his native language, drawing everyone's attention to him.

"A toast to Coyote." Windlifter said. "It was he who drove all day and all night to the base of Bright Mountain. With much difficulty, he climbed the mountain to obtain fire and brought it down to the first people. But in so doing, he burned his tires. And when Coyote saw his blackened tires, he thought they were his favourite snack, and he ate them! For he knew they were still full of life. And it was in this way, he let go of the old, and renewed himself like fire renews the earth."

Stunned silence met the end of Windlifter's speech. "Uh, I'm just gonna say it." Dusty finally piped up. "You had me up until the part where he eats his own tires."

Maru chuckled. "Best toast ever, Wind. Cheers!"

"Cheers!" Everyone called.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: Dusty in Trouble

"Propwash Junction to Dusty. Come in Dusty!"

Dusty jolted a bit, accidentally backing into a shelf and knocking a box onto his head. Crow and I snickered at him.

"Hey Skip! What's up?" Dusty asked jerking the box off his canopy.

"Isn't it six o clock over there?" I asked only to get elbowed by Crow.

"Did the gearbox come in?" Dusty asked excitedly.

There was some static before Skipper came on. "Well, we…we…."

"What is it?" Dusty asked.

"So…..Dust…." Sparky said.

"Sparky, I'll….I'll tell them." Chug's voice lacked all joy, something very unusual for the fuel truck. "It was the wrong one. The crate…it was mislabelled. We've called every parts supplier, repair shop, and junkyard in the country. Nobody has your gearbox."

He'd never get to race ever again.

"Dusty?" Skipper asked, the Propwash residents having received no answer from the pair.

"I'm here."

"I'm sorry." Skipper said.

Dusty took in a ragged breath. "I've gotta go."

Dusty released the talk pedal, ending the call.

The alarm went off.

"Hey guys!" Maru called as he popped up in the doorway. "Get this: Cad's fancy jet VIPs flew in too low over the burn area last night. Blew embers in all directions."

"You are kidding me." I groaned.

"Not kidding!" Blade called as he hovered briefly in front of the doors. "Let's load and go!"

#############################################

"Fire broke containment and split in two." Blade explained as he, Dusty, Windlifter and Dipper flew towards the blazes. "Windlifter, you and Dipper take the Coil Springs fire. Me, the SEAT and rookie will take Whitewall Rapids."

"Windlifter copies." Windlifter said and he and Dipper broke off.

"Blade, aren't these hills near the lodge?" Crow said into the radio.

Blade looked ahead, picking up speed. Once he and Dusty made it over the crest of the ridge, he saw Crow was right: the lodge was just down the hill. Oh great. "Maru, come in."

"Yeah, Blade?" Maru asked.

"It's worse than we thought." Blade reported. "Get on the horn down to the lodge. That fire is about four hours from their front door. They're gonna have to evacuate."

########################################

"Absolutely not!" Cad snapped.

Should've known this wouldn't be easy. Maru glared. "Blade insists! To be safe, you've gotta get everyone out."

"I've been working on this lodge for five years." Cad protested. "I'm not gonna evacuate now just to be 'safe!'"

"You got less than four hours!" Maru snapped.

"Why am I talking to you?" Cad demanded. "Where's Blade?"

"Oh he's out back, sipping a motorjito." Maru said sarcastically before he started shouting. "Where do ya think he is? He's out fighting the fire!"

"Well if he knows how to do his job, it shouldn't be a problem!" Cad hung up, leaving Maru fuming.

############################################

Blade knew deep down there's no way Cad would evacuate them all in time. He could only hold onto a small hope that Maru's warning would buy them some time. "If we're gonna save the lodge, we've gotta keep this fire from cresting the ridge." Blade told us before turning most of his attention to the latter. "I'll drop, then you tag on and extend. And make it a split load. That way we can double up and widen it downwind of the ridge for structure protection. There's not much time so we need to move fast. Copy that?" Dusty didn't respond. "Hey! You copy that?"

"Yes. Yes! Copy that." Dusty replied.

Come on, Dusty. Focus. I thought although my mind was wandering to thoughts of my curse mark. Blade dropped his share of retardant on the fire before moving and allowing Dusty to drop his load. But, to Blade's irritation and our horror, Dusty dropped his entire tank's worth of retardant.

"You gotta be kidding me." Blade growled.

He flew up alongside Dusty and glared at the plane.

"Was that your whole tank?" Blade demanded.

"Yeah." Dusty confirmed.

"You just wasted all of it!" Blade yelled.

"I was just following your orders!" Dusty protested.

"I said 'split load.'" Blade corrected. "We were going to make a secondary line to protect that lodge."

Dusty mentally kicked himself, unable to believe how stupid he had just been. But he glared in determination. "It'll be fine. I can reload at the lake."

We can't afford any mistakes from him. Blade thought, not knowing I could hear it this time as I activated my cure mark and read his mind.

"Negative!" Blade snapped. "Return to base."

"What? No, there's no time. Let's just get this fire out!" Dusty suddenly dived down towards the lake.

"Hey, hey!" Blade called. "You need to listen to me!"

"I'll be fine!" Dusty shouted back, still diving.

Blade dived down after Dusty. "These crosswinds are too strong. Return to base!"

"This is what you trained me to do!" Dusty protested, speaking into the radio.

"Not under these conditions!" Blade countered.

"Dusty, pull up before you hurt yourself!" I called tightening my grip on his wing like Crow did.

"If we're gonna get this fire out, I've gotta reload." Dusty was getting closer to the surface of the lake.

"Pull up!" Blade shouted. "That's an order!"

"No! I can do this!" Dusty hit the surface of the lake, only for his hard landing and the crosswinds to jerk him off balance. He shouted in surprise, ending up taking a nosedive before his pontoons forced him up again. Luckily, the buoyancy of the pontoons kept him afloat.

Crow and I held on to his wings as he floated down the lake.

"I've taken in too much water. My engine stalled." Dusty reported.

"Stalled?" Blade groaned.

Crow and I held Dusty's wings tightly as he went into the rapids.

"Keep your pontoons downstream." Blade instructed as he flew over Dusty. "I'll keep ahead of you."

"I'll get out on my own." Dusty said.

"Really?" Blade scoffed. "How you plannin' on doing that?"

"I'll restart my engine." Dusty reasoned.

"Just hang on." Blade called. "I'm gonna pull you to shore but if I miss you girls try and grab the hoist."

Dusty furiously revved his engine, and his propellers began spinning again. "Got it!"

Blade narrowed his eyes, hovering down closer. He threw the hoist, but Dusty hit a rock and his nose dipped below the water. His engine stalled again, and Blade's hoist didn't wrap around his tail enough to hook on. Dusty was swept away again, down a small drop as the current carried him along. The orange and white plane shouted a bit in surprise, starting to get a little freaked out over the lack of control he had in the water. Luckily us girl managed to catch the hoist and Blade pulled us into his hatch.

"Are you all right?" Blade called, noting the number of fallen trees hanging over the water.

"I'm okay!" Dusty confirmed.

"There's too much coverage. Don't worry! I'll get you at the next clearing." Blade called, flying ahead to find a clear spot downriver.

"Right!" Dusty coughed a bit as water splashed into his mouth.

Us girls tensed up, staring worriedly at Dusty as he bobbed along the rapids. "Hang on, Dusty!"

Finally, Blade managed to find a clear area and readied the hoist again. Taking aim, he threw the hook and cable. Dusty's pontoon hooked onto a log in the river, forcing his front half below the water and causing the hook to bounce off him. Blade tried to move, but the cable tightened as the hook caught onto a log part of a small dam in the river.

"The hoist! It's caught!" Blade struggled to pull the hoist free, finding himself anchored to the ground. "You girls stay in the hatch"

Dusty stared up at Blade with fear in his eyes.

"Blade!" Dusty called, fear in his tone as the current pushed him along. "Blade!"

"Oh, come on." Blade gave another tug, but the hoist was caught tight. "You need to start your engine. You got clear water, you can take off before the falls."

Dusty spun around and saw with horror that a significant-sized waterfall dropped off only a couple hundred yards away.

"It's your only chance!" Blade shouted.

"Right, right!" Dusty hurriedly started up his engine, his propellers spinning. "Got it! I'm good!"

"Now redline it!" Blade ordered. "Push your engine!"

Dusty pushed, as hard and as fast as he could to get his speed up. The edge of the falls grew closer.

"Redline it!" Blade shouted. "You need more lift, redline it! Redline it!"

Dusty's alarm began blaring, and Dottie's warning about him crashing rang in his head.

"Why are you holding back?"

He only had a hundred feet left, not nearly enough time to increase power.

"Redline it!"

"Dusty!"

He was going to crash. Either way, he was going to crash.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: A Hero's Sacrifice

Blade suddenly freed his hoist and flew after Dusty. Dusty suddenly went over the edge and disappeared. Then, Blade threw the hoist and the cable tightened, indicating a catch. We jumped out at the bottom of the falls and saw Dusty resting on solid ground, looking shaken but alive.

"Why didn't you redline it?!" Blade shouted as he hovered above the orange and white plane and us girls. "You could've made it! What were you thinking?" He paused, his attention drawn to something above them.

"What? What's wrong?" Dusty asked.

"Blade?" I called.

Blade rose higher into the air, seeing the treetops near them already ablaze. Our journey down the river had carried us right into the fire itself. "This ain't good." His mind raced for a solution. There wasn't a place for Dusty to take off in such dense forestry, and the nearest meadow would already be on fire by now. Blade took a look at our surroundings. "Head down that path. Follow me."

Dusty obeyed, gently scooping us girl up onto his wing and somewhat slowly following Blade deeper into the forest. The fire was definitely getting close now.

"Champ, come on!" Blade called, lowering down to hover above an opening into a cave-like space. "In here."

"An old mine?" Dusty gasped incredulously. "We can't go in there! We'll suffocate!"

"It's our only chance." Blade reasoned. "We'll let it burn over."

"No." Dusty protested, looking to Blade. "No, you go on. We'll keep moving."

"Are you crazy?" I said and jumped off his wing with Crow while Dusty begin to roll down the old railway tracks.

"What are you doing? Hey. Hey!" Blade snapped, landing in Dusty's path. "You can't outrun the fire."

Dusty started glaring. "You know what? I'll find my way out." He began moving again.

"Like you found your way out of the rapids." Blade pointed out, his rotors still twirling and kicking up a little dust.

Dusty stopped again. "I didn't want to….push my engine…."

"You didn't want to?" Blade shouted.

"Blade, listen to me—" Dusty started.

"This isn't about you." Blade growled. "This about life and death. You need to follow orders. I told you 'split load,' you dropped it all. I told you not to reload on the lake, you did it anyway. I told you 'redline it,' you pulled power. You don't have what it takes! You don't!"

"Fine!" Dusty shouted, glaring fiercely as he turned to keep moving. "I never wanted to be a firefighter anyway!"

"Then go back to racing!" Blade snapped, and Dusty froze. "Go win yourself another trophy, Champ."

"I CAN'T!" Dusty screamed, spinning around to glare at Blade. His outburst made Crow and I jump in surprise. "My gearbox is busted! All right? That's why I pulled power. I'm never….I'm never gonna…" His anger dwindled away, and he slumped on his pontoons as he stared at the ground.

Blade's glare didn't lessen. His rotors finally stopped spinning. I sighed, and plopped down on the ground to sit on one of the railroad tracks. I bit my bottom lip to stop myself yelping at the strong tug my curse mark did. Sometimes it really could hurt.

Ok while we are trapped here I will defiantly review what my curse mark can do if we don't get killed I thought.

Blade looked at Dusty than at me and Crow. When he spoke, he sounded more understanding than angry. "Life doesn't always go the way you expect it. But you three came here to become firefighters. If you give up today, think of all the lives you won't save tomorrow."

I glanced to Dusty, who hadn't moved from his spot.

"So what are you going to do?" Blade asked.

Dusty looked up, and he hardened his gaze. Then, he turned and began rolling towards the mine. Crow and I stood up and followed him. Blade stopped outside the mine, turning to stare at the oncoming fire. The flames already engulfed the area we once occupied.

Debris began falling, crashing down around us. Dusty Crow and I were already pressed in as far as we could go. Blade positioned himself in front of us. The chief kept his eyes on the opening to the mine, where the fire raged. A cracking sound rang out, and a beam from the ceiling broke and fell down, scratching Dusty's number 7 racing decals. Another smaller beam and some small rocks hit my riding helmet I had worn. We stared out at the opening to the mine. The fire was right on top of us now. Huge chunks of burning wood fell in front of the entrance, and suddenly a wave of fire shot straight towards us. Dusty shut his eyes, bracing himself for the burning sensation of the fire on his hide. Crow and I backed up against him. Suddenly, Blade shot forward, putting himself between the flames and us. He grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, the flames brushing against his side and scorching his paintwork. Dusty, realizing he wasn't feeling any burning, opened his eyes and stared in shock to see he was fully encased in Blade's shadow. The larger aircraft gasped softly in pain, the heat and fire pressing against him. Dusty looked down a bit and saw Crow and I curled up against him looking terrified.

Blade forced his eyes open, trying to keep tabs on the fire. But a burning tower suddenly collapsed in front of the entrance and a wall of smoke and ash filled the cave.

Then, it was dark.

Several minutes passed before the smoke and ash settled. Dusty's and Blade's lights flickered on, giving some light in the dark cave. A wall of debris completely covered the entrance to the mine, blocking them in. Blade could feel agonizing pain radiating across his flank, but he took a breath and forced himself to ignore it.

"You three…..all right?" Blade gave a cough, despite his efforts to keep it back.

"Fine." Dusty breathed and looked at Crow and me. "And so are the girls.

"We will have to wait for it to burn over" Blade said.

Blade finery determined we could finally leave. Crow and I climbed onto Dusty's wings. The lights went out, and Blade tensed up a bit before charging forward and ramming into the wall of debris. There was a shift, but not very much. Excruciating pain flared up from his burn, but he rammed into the wall two more times. Light began to stream through into the cave. Blade backed up a bit, then grunted in effort and slammed his entire body weight into the wall. The debris gave way, allowing cleaner air to flow into the stuffy mine. Blade rolled out, coughing. Dusty soon followed, also coughing a little from the ash kicked up. We looked around and discovered only scorched earth and trees all around them.

Dusty looked to Blade, and his eyes widened when he saw the full extent of the fire chief's burns. "Blade..."

"Airway Meadow should be clear." Blade's voice sounded hoarse and rough, and he coughed a few more times. "We'll take off from there. Let's go."

He motioned for Dusty to take off, and the orange and white plane began his run before lifting off into the sky. Blade began following him.

Suddenly, there was the sound of something clanking and popping in Blade's engine. Blade suddenly began spinning in the air, his tail rotor completely useless. Blade fought to keep control, feeling is engine seizing. A strange creaking sound came from inside him. Blade spiralled down out of the sky. He skidded across the soil and ash before coming to a stop.

"BLADE!" Dusty screamed, immediately banking around and circling the downed helicopter. "Patch come in this is Crophopper Seven Patch come in!"

"I read you Crophopper Seven" Patch said.

"Blade is down I repeat Blade is down!"

"Just stay with him." Patch instructed. "Windlifter's on his way."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve: Of Blade and Nick

Windlifter came much later than we would've liked. The Skycrane carried a rescue harness, lowering it down towards the ground.

"Girls can you jump down and hook him in?" Windlifter asked over the radio.

"Can do." Crow and I jumped off of Dusty's wings landing a little harder than we had expected.

It took a while, but we managed to loop the straps of the harness around Blade. We caught sight of Blade's right side and saw a good portion of the metal near his jaw crumpled and dented, no doubt from his harsh impact on the ground.

"We're good all good!" Crow called into the radio.

"What about you two?" Dusty asked worriedly.

"Cloudy is taking us back" I answered as the horse landed and we mounted up and took to the skies.

Windlifter took off and headed towards the base. Dusty flew alongside him, staring worriedly at Blade the entire way. When the base came into sight, Dusty pulled ahead and landed first before joining the rest of the Air Attack team waiting for Blade to come in.

"Okay, that's good!" Maru called over the wind as Windlifter gently lowered Blade to the ground. "Slow…..slow…..careful…..good….." He waited until Blade's full weight was on his landing gear. "We're good! Pinecone, get those straps off him! Avalanche! Push the ramp alongside the access panel and be careful!"

Dusty stared at the scene. He looked to Cabbie beside him. "He'll be okay, right?"

"It's bad." Cabbie admitted. "But, Maru, he's the best there is. He'll make him better than new."

Maru couldn't remember the last time he moved so quickly. He had to wrench open the access panel, the door almost melted completely shut. His eyes widened a bit at the damage. "He's hydraulics are completely fried. He's losing fluids. I gotta get him back to the garage, stat. Dynamite! Tow hook!"

"Coming right up!" Dynamite called, driving off.

Maru closed the access panel, turning to Drip. "I'm gonna need hydraulic fluid from the shed."

"Copy that!" Drip hurried off.

"Blackout, we'll need another generator. Try the main hanger." Maru ordered.

"I got it!" Blackout sped away.

"And grab another heat lamp!" Maru called after him.

"Yes, boss!" Blackout called.

########################################

Later on Maru hauled the still-unconscious fire chief to his hanger. We followed along behind. Maru carefully back Blade into the hanger and shut the doors, sighing. Crow and I sat on Dusty's wings.

"How is he?" Dusty finally asked.

"He's resting now." Maru reported, beginning to drive off.

"Oh." Dusty sighed, looking dejected as he followed Maru.

"I've done everything I can." Maru said.

Dusty was silent for a moment. "Do…..do you think he's gonna be—"

"Look, Dusty, don't blame yourself." Maru said.

Dusty sighed. "He should have left me out there. He could've taken the girls and just left."

Maru smirked. "Nah. That ain't Blade's style." His face fell. "Especially since what happened to Nick."

"Nick?" Dusty blinked. "You mean Nick Loopin' Lopez from the TV show?"

Maru led us into the garage, driving towards the Wall. He began moving carts and boxes out of the way.

"It was just a routine day on the set." Maru explained. "Nick, he was doing his trademark loop for a stunt scene. But there was this freak crosswind." Maru moved the final box, revealing a picture of Nick Loopin' Lopez in the corner of the Wall. Nick was smiling broadly, and writing in the corners of the picture read "Good move, partner! –Loopin' Lopez".

Maru sighed. "Blade was the first on the scene but…..he didn't know what to do. His best friend was gone. And Blade thought his life was over too. But he didn't give up. He got trained, got certified, and came here. Blade, he used to pretend to save lives. Now, he saves them for real."

I thought back to when we first came and realised that my curse mark was acting up again. But why?


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen: The Piston Peak Inferno

We jumped as the alarm sounded across the base. Patch's voice came in over the speakers.

"Listen up, y'all, we got big trouble. Wildfire jumped the main exit road and now it's blocked."

"There's not another way out of the park?" Crow asked as we approached Windlifter and Dipper.

"There's only the one main exit and entrance." Dipper said. She looked to Windlifter. "I know it's after sunset, but you're in command. It's your call."

"There's not much time!" Maru warned. "If you're gonna go, you better go now."

"And we'll need every plane we've got." Dusty added. Everyone looked to Windlifter, waiting for his respond.

"Load up." The Sikorsky ordered.

Everyone leaped into action. Maru began hooking up Dipper, Dusty, and Windlifter to the hoses for retardant and the Smokejumpers loaded into Cabbie.

"We'll have you out of here in sixty…" Maru paused, jiggling the lever to the water. But nothing flowed through the hoses. Maru hurried to the gauges near the hoses, tapping one of them. "Problem! There's no water pressure!"

"Main line musta burst again!" Cabbie groaned.

"Hey Patch!" Dipper called as Maru unhooked the hoses. "What's the lake look like?"

"Negative." Patch reported ruefully. "No visibility. Boxed in by fire and smoke."

Windlifter began taking off, his lights flicking on. "All we have left is what's in our tanks. Let's make it count."

Dusty , Cabbie and Dipper took off following Windlifter.

Don't be afraid. You can do this. If you have to use your curse mark, do it! I thought to myself.

"We're headed straight into the fire!" Dusty called. "Aren't we gonna fly around it?"

"The fastest way to the main road is through the fire!" Dipper protested.

"Brace yourselves!" Windlifter called. He and Dipper disappeared into the smoke. We tensed up a bit as Cabbie and we followed close behind.

Chaos. That was the simplest way to explain the inside of the inferno. Embers blew up in everyone's faces. Smoke clouded our vision. Chunks of flaming wood shot down like tiny meteors. Everyone became forced to weave their way through the destruction to avoid getting hit. We were vaguely aware of Dipper shouting encouragingly, but the intensity of the firestorm made it hard to concentrate. After a few tense moments that felt like years, the team, Crow, Dusty and I finally broke through the smoke. Thankfully we all came out unscathed, but the sight on the other side of the smoke made us all widen our eyes briefly. Flames engulfed the valley, leaving only a burning glow beneath us.

We ended up flying right over the lodge, somehow unaffected by the flames getting closer and closer. Soon, we noticed why: a huge amount of water soaked the lodge from the roof sprinklers. That was quite the amount of water for standard roof sprinklers to put forth. Then again, Cad was probably so addicted to the stupid bomb fire pile he would've spared no expense to keep it safe. So we continued on, reaching the main entrance in less than a minute. A long line of cars and humans stood in front of the burning, destroyed gate, and Muir the train blew his whistle desperately. We immediately moved in. Windlifter dumped his load of retardant first, snuffing out the flames of the destroyed gate; Dipper moved along the side of the cliff, extinguishing the fire threatening to come up over the ridge; Dusty moved in last, aiming for the flaming trees blocking Muir's path. Dusty swooped in and dropped the retardant, hitting his target directly and allowing Muir to push through the burnt wood to continue on. The Smokejumpers deployed from Cabbie, hurriedly clearing a pathway for the rest of the campers. Ol' Jammer began encouraging the campers forward, and the civilians all began moving at a steady pace through the charred debris. Several of them thanked the Smokejumpers on the way out, and everyone smiled warmly as the aircraft of the team and us girls began making our way back to base. We were already pushing it by flying out at night in the first place; the longer we stayed out, the greater our chances of someone crashing. But we couldn't help feeling proud of what we did. We saved the lives of the campers, just as we were trained to do, and we could all go back and plan our attack on the fire at first light.

Or so we thought.

"Windlifter, do you copy?" Patch called hurriedly.

"Go ahead, Patch." Windlifter responded.

"We've got two old RVs trapped in Augerin Canyon." Patch reported.

"Oh no." Dusty understood and he pulled ahead to fly alongside Windlifter. "That's Harvey and Winnie! We met them earlier. They're looking for the place they had their first kiss."

"Augerin Canyon?" Windlifter said. "That's at the other end of the park."

"I can get there the fastest. The girls can help me." Dusty said.

"The canyon will be engulfed in flames and you have no retardant." Windlifter protested.

"I'll scoop off the river. There's a clear stretch of water." Dusty countered.

Windlifter said nothing, a contemplating gaze in his eyes. He stared at each of us in turn.

"Windlifter, we can do it." Dusty assured. This time, there wasn't a hint of cockiness or desperation. Just pure confidence.

Windlifter finally answered after a long pause. "Go. And be safe."

Dusty took off, the three of us shooting into the fire. Dusty looked to his torque. He was already pushing into the yellow at this speed. We shot off over the trees, finally reaching Augerin Canyon and diving down into it. Windlifter wasn't joking; the entire canyon seemed to be on fire, especially the bridge near the falls. Winnie and Harvey were resting right in the middle, the area around them unburned for now. They shouted for help, and Dusty tilted a wing in response before shooting off again. He turned hard, diving down to the river at the bottom of the canyon.

Dusty pulled up sharply, barely missing the flaming log. But when he went down to scoop, he had to jerk up again and his pontoons clipped another log in the river. Dusty swerved as flaming trees fell past him. He shot forward, doing a barrel roll as us girls tightened our grip so we did not fall off and to avoid the falling rocks. We swerved through falling debris and the still standing rocks in the canyon, trying to imagine it was just another training session with Blade. He gasped as we cleared the smoke to find a horrifying scene before us. The bridge had begun to collapse, and Winnie was half-hanging off the edge of the platform with Harvey keeping a tight grip on her wheel.

Suddenly, the sound of helicopter blades could be heard over the crackling of the fire, and Dusty looked up thinking he'd see Windlifter coming in. But instead, a familiar, still beat-up AgustaWestland burst through the smoke.

"Blade!" I called happily and partly surprised.

Blade shot down the waterfall, not looking fazed by his still-healing injuries. He spun around and hovered in the air over the bridge, his hoist hatch opening. He threw the hook and cable, catching Winnie and holding her from the edge. Blade grit his teeth a bit, using all his strength to stay hovering in the air.

There was only one way to refill now.

"Hold on tight girls" Dusty said.

Crow and I readied ourselves. "Right."

Dusty shot off. He ducked under the flaming bridge and then pulled up sharply, running parallel with the waterfall. Dusty lowered the scoops to his pontoons, dipping the gear into the waterfall. His body shook from the water hitting him and filling his pontoons, but he stayed firm.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

We ignored it. The three of us shot up, up, up, higher and higher, and cleared the top of the falls. The momentum carried us up past the smoke a little ways, allowing us to see a clear night sky. Then, Dusty fell back and looped down low, speeding right past Blade's hoist cable and dropping the water he gathered across the flaming bridge. Blade tugged on the hoist, helping Harvey and Winnie up onto the bridge. The two RVs sped off, making it into the stone tunnel just as the bridge collapsed behind them.

Crow and I cheered loudly, and slap hi-five. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes! We did it!"

"Dusty, girls!" Blade called as we passed him. We glanced to the fire chief, who actually smiled at us. "Good move, partners."

Dusty smiled, feeling pride well up inside of him. He did it. He saved lives, like a true firefighter, and he earned the respect of Chief Blade Ranger. Best of all, Dusty's gearbox didn't—

SCREECH!

Dusty's propeller jerked to a halt, a horrible grinding sound coming from his engine and smoke streaming into his face. Dusty heard alarms blaring and red lights flashed across his panel, pain radiating throughout his entire body.

"Girls!" Dusty gasped, pain choking his voice.

Dusty suddenly took a nosedive. He hit the trees, branches slapping him repeatedly.

"Crow jump NOW!" I yelped as we leaped off his wings and landed hard on the ground badly scratched up.

Blade flinched at the sound of the crash, and when it became silent once more he hurriedly searched for a place to land. Finding a small opening amongst the trees, the AgustaWestland carefully yet quickly lowered himself down to the forest floor. "Dusty! Girls!" He shouted, rolling forward in the direction of his fallen comrades. He finally saw a spot of white and orange through the trees and he rushed over. But when he saw Dusty, Blade couldn't help wincing in sympathy. The poor racer looked like someone crumpled him up like a piece of paper and then lengthened him out again, his prop destroyed beyond repair, and one of his pontoons ripped off.

"Dusty?" Blade gave the plane a gentle nudge, hoping he didn't cause more damage.

Dusty gave a pained moan, and he wearily blinked his eyes open. At least, they opened halfway. "Blade?"

"Hey Champ." Blade sighed in relief. "Just hang on. You'll be all right."

Dusty coughed a bit. "Where are the girls?"

"We are fine" Crow called as we ran up to where Blade and Dusty were.

Dusty's eyes closed.

"Dusty? Dusty! Champ, hey!" Blade gave the plane a few nudges, but Dusty didn't move. Blade listened closely, relieved to hear Dusty still breathing. "Just hang on." Blade murmured, turning on his radio. "This is Ranger 301 to base. Somebody come in."

After a moment of static, Maru's infuriated voice came over the radio. "Blade Ranger you little sneaky creep!"

Blade rolled his eyes, unsure what exasperated him more: Maru using his full name or that rather unusual insult. "Maru—"

"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" Maru screamed. "When I said 'stay put and let the others handle it,' that was not your cue to take off when my back was turned for two seconds! You had better not have crashed or I'll…"

"MARU SHUT UP AND LISTEN. DUSTY CRASHED" I yell over my radio cutting him off.

Silence. "What?" Maru's voice was only a whisper.

"He saved the lives of two campers, but then his gearbox failed and he crashed with the girls." Blade explained hurriedly. "He's hurt really badly, Maru. You gotta get Windlifter out here ASAP."

"Rule about no flying after sunset aside, there's no way Windlifter can find you right now." Maru said. "He and the others are scanning the park for any stragglers, and by the time they get back it'll be way too dark to see anything. They're going to have to come straight back to base. Dusty is gonna have to hang on until it gets lighter."

"Copy that" Blade sighed.

Blade looked into the distance, where the fire still raged. It was almost on top of us now and Blade did not have his retardant tank. There was only one thing to do. I had to use my curse mark.

Blade move in front of us to protect us but I suddenly cut in front of him activating my curse mark. Blade jaw dropped as a large wave of water shot from my hands and smothered the flames. I felt the urge to look behind me. I turned and when my eyes met Blade's an image appeared in front of me. It was a Hughes 500D helicopter and it seemed to be looking for something. That was when I realised what my curse mark had been trying to tell me. Nick was still alive. Then everything went black and I hit the ground.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen: Admitting the truth

When I came to I found myself on a work bench in Maru's garage. I let out a slight groan that brought Maru over to me. I then realised that my right shirt sleeve had been cut off. There was a wet rag tied around my arm. Well the rag was almost dry now. Maru removed it than ran a tine down the burn that was there. I figured my arm had landed in some hot coals when I passed out.

"OW" I yelped when he touched it.

"Oh stop squirming and sit still. I was just checking that you still had feelings in that arm" Maru scolded me as he tied another wet rag around the burn.

I yelped again when Crow suddenly wrapped me in a hug.

"Glade to see that you made it" she giggled and tightened her grip.

"Um Crow I can't breathe" I gasped slightly.

"Ok Crow you can let her go" Maru released Crow's grip.

Crow giggled again and let go so I could breathe again.

"Oh and Ashley, Blade told me to send you up to his hanger when you woke up or if you don't feel like walking I could go and fetch him" Maru said then waved a tine to were my now cracked up riding helmet was. "And your helmet did not make the fall either."

"That's ok and I'll walk up to Blade hanger thanks" I answered as I slipped off the table.

"Ok" Maru resumed his work on Dusty and I walked out the hanger.

I pretty much dawdled up to Blade's hanger but the only aircraft I saw was Dipper who was watching Maru work. I figured the rest were either out or in their hangers. I sighed and knocked on Blade's hanger door.

"Come in" Blade called from inside.

I opened the hanger door and stepped inside closing it behind me.

"Maru told me you wanted to talk to me" I said.

"Yes I did" Blade answered his voice tone sounding dead serious. "It's about what happened after Dusty crashed."

"I suppose you want an explanation for it?" I asked as I leaned against the hanger door and slid down it so I was sitting on the floor.

"That would be helpful" Blade agreed.

"Then I had better start at the beginning" I sighed and rolled up my left shirt sleeve to revival my curse mark.

Blade settled down to listen.

"It all started just after I turned five. My birth parents had left me at an orphanage saying that they will be back for me in six months. Six months later they came back for me but little did the person in charge of the orphanage or I know that my real parents had been killed months ago and these two were impostors. Of course they had my birth certificate so the person in charged let them take me. I lived with them happily for the next six months. But on the night of my sixth birthday I decided to play explore the house in the dark with a torch. I waited until I thought I herded my so called parent bedroom door shut then slipped into the hall. I wandered from room to room till I herded talking. Of course being a little kid I decided it needed investigating. The talking led to a door in the house that was usually locked but tonight it was not so I just went and opened it. That was when I realised my mistake. Behind the door was a dark cloud that was a dark evil force that was my so called parents. When the cloud saw me it growled in irritation as it had been found out by a human and because of that it will be destroyed. Knowing that it will soon disappear forever it dropped an ink like substance on the floor that grabbed me. Then it yelled out that I will be forever cursed and disappeared. Then this curse mark appeared to show I was cursed. I later on discovered my curse was not a bad thing. It enabled me to heal, make water barriers, send out water in different ways like wave, spray and so it looks like it shots forwards like a snake, read minds and sense things. Not long after that I met Crow and Cloudy and we became close friends. Then we met Dusty and raced with him in the Wings Around the Globe Rally and have been with him ever since."

Blade gave me an understanding look and I rubbed my left arm were my curse mark was then smiled slightly.

"So you have something else to tell me?" he asked.

"Yes. It's about why I passed out after putting out the fire. My curse mark seemed to tell me to look behind me so I did. When my eyes met yours I saw an image flash up of a white helicopter." I took a deep breath. "It was your friend Nick Loopin' Lopaze. He was still alive and is looking for you.

Blade did a sharp intake of breath.

"When he crash he only stopped breathing until the mechanic's started working on him. One of them moved something and it shocked him back into breathing but by time they fixed him they had lost all contact with you. I saw it all in the image."

Blade looked shocked for a minute before giving me a nuzzle with his nose and whispering a thank you to me. We stayed in his hanger until Maru came looking for me and as he lead me away I could have sworn that Blade smiled at me. I just felt a proud feeling sweep over me for just a moment before I disappeared into the garage with Maru.

 **Now you know how Ashley got her curse mark. In case you are wondering why i made it Nick did not die I did it because A) I'm using him in later fanfics and B) I didn't really like the fact that Nick died. Kinda changed the story a bit. Next chapter is the last.**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Thought that i might as well finish it. To tell the truth I'm getting a bit board with this story**

#########################################

Chapter Fifteen: Firefighters.

Blade told the entire base my story to save me doing it. When the smokejumper gave me looks I activated it and soaked them then they believed me. Also it glowed and turned red when it is activated. Blade did not tell them about the image I saw though just to be on the safe side.

It had been five days since the crash and Dusty was still out of it. Someone who I suppose was the Secretary of the Interior that Cad had spoken about had been up to talk to Blade. Cad was no longer in charge of the lodge which was a relief. Cloudy said that I served him right so Crow had to explain Cloudy's abilities.

###############################################

On the morning of the sixth day Crow and I were watching Maru with Dipper when Dusty let out a slight moan and his eyes slowly opened.

"Maru?"

"Hello there. Ha, ha he's awake! I'm a genius."

"Hey Maru aren't you always the genius?" I teased as he pushed the ramp away so it against the wall.

"Shut up smarty!" Maru snapped back and I laughed.

Dusty slowly rolling out of the garage, looking disoriented and tired but alive and well.

"Mornin', mud dropper." Blade greeted.

Dusty sighed tiredly. "How long have I been out, anyway?"

"Five days." Blade reported. "Dipper stayed by your side the whole time."

Dusty felt confident Dipper's intentions were good, and that the SuperScooper wasn't watching him in a creepy way.

"I like watching you sleep."

Or, maybe not.

I cracked and the others just rolled their eyes knowing that I had read Dusty's mind.

"All aircraft, the superintendent has entered the base." Patch announced, actually sounding happy to announce the superintendent's arrival. "The superintendent has entered the base."

Dusty was confused, especially when Ol' Jammer rolled up with André the concierge, Pulaski, and his assistant following. "Well, you had us worried, Dusty." Jammer said. "Glad to see you're out and about."

Dusty blinked. "You're the superintendent? What happened to Cad?"

Pulaski chuckled. "Sprinkler saved the lodge but not his job. Secretary of the Interior did the right thing. Put Ranger Jammer here in charge."

"YAY!" Avalanche cheered.

"Maru, did you tell him?" Windlifter asked.

Maru looked down. "Uh….."

"Tell me what?" Dusty asked nervously, knowing it had something to do with his repairs.

"I replaced your prop." Maru reported. "Repaired the damaged wing ribs. Hammered out what damage I could. Even got your pontoons back on." He chuckled, and then his face fell. "But your gearbox…" Everyone else looked down.

"I know." Dusty sighed, disappointed. "Thanks for trying, Maru."

Maru smiled broadly, as did everyone else. "You're welcome!"

"What?" Dusty asked.

"'Cause you're fixed!" Maru announced happily.

"Wait, really?" Dusty gasped in surprise.

"Yeah, that was the hardest thing I've ever done." Maru admitted. "You've got yourself a custom-made, epicyclic, concentric reduction gearbox."

"A new gearbox?" Dusty smiled happily.

"No!" Maru scoffed. "It's better than new!"

"Crophopper, Jakins, Patterson I'd say you've earned your certification." Blade announced. Dusty's and us girl's smiles grew, if it were even possible at that moment, and everyone began cheering happily. Dusty could hardly believe it.

######################################

That same day Maru told Blade that someone he had worked with had radioed up and after finding out that Blade worked here had sent someone Blade knew up. Then the sound of rotor blades filled the air and I grinned. A familiar Hughes 500D helicopter land but without the word's, logo or symbols landed. I saw a heap of jaws drop. Blade gave me a slight smile now know I had been right about the whole Nick still being alive and went to greet his partner.

############################

Blade later told the base about how I had told him about Nick still being alive but the smokejumpers did not get it so I dragged them off and explained it. About a hundred times.

Blade radioed up Propwash and let them know that Dusty was awake but Maru had grounded him for a week to 'heal.' Nick had fun telling us about acting on a set and Blade managed to certify him in a week.

Now, it was the day before we left to return to Propwash Junction. The Air Attack team joined us for the Corn Fest to celebrate their certification and to give the firefighters a break from what happened.

Dusty received a gift from Maru, at Blade's request: a new paintjob, red and black on white to match Mayday and Blade. Dusty wore the new scheme proudly, beaming at his mentor. Maru even repainted the Jolly Wrench insignia back onto Dusty's nose. Blade gave me a T-shirt to replace the old one. It was red with flames coming at least half way up the front and back. The insignias for the Jolly Wrenches were on the sleeves and the words Propwash Junction Fire Team were on the back of the shirt and my jumper. Crow and I also received real firefighting helmets with a yellow visor and Propwash Junction Fire Team on the front. Nick got the words Piston Peak painted on his tail but kept his white and blue colour scheme.

"There." Blade nodded in satisfaction. "Now at least you'll three match."

Nick looked at me, smirked and looked at Blade. "Why Blade, I didn't know you sew."

"I don't." Blade said. "Maru does."

Maru rolled his eyes and Nick laughed at his expression.

########################################

Finally we made it back home to Propwash Junction. The Piston Peak firefighters flew in behind us, the Smokejumpers riding in Cabbie per the usual. Even Maru, Pulaski, and his assistant made the trip Ryker had already arrived, allowing the aircraft to land at the airport. The TMST agent planned to check their progress and make the final decision at the beginning of the festival.

Crow and I waved when we spotted Skipper, Sparky, Mayday, Chug, and Dottie out on the runway. The second Dusty's tires hit the runway; we jumped off and bounced up to our 'family' to say hi.

"Whoa Mayday!" Dusty gasped happily. "I barely recognize you!" Indeed, Dottie's modifications really paid off. Mayday didn't even wear his glasses.

###########################################

A few hours passed. The time of the aerial performance grew closer. We received a second surprise from the Air Attack team: an offer to perform for the Propwash residents. We agreed of course.

Finally, Ryker called everyone together and to make the announcement. We stood beside him, the Piston Peak team standing by mostly for moral support.

"In accordance with CFR title fourteen, volume three, chapter one, section 139, sub-paragraph B, Propwash Junction is recertified and open for operation!" Ryker announced. The entire town cheered, relieved to no end.

"Hey Dusty, girls!" Chug called excitedly as he came up. "I won, I won! Guess what? I've been crowned official Corn Colonel!"

"And I'm his Private Niblet!" Sparky added happily, rolling up beside him.

"Can I wear my official hat to your race next Saturday?" Chug asked.

"Absolutely, Chug." Dusty nodded. "As long as the boss here will give us the day off."

"Anytime." Mayday assured.

"Okay, Niblet! Time to hit the festival!" Chug announced, driving off towards the stadium for the aerial performance. Everyone else began following, excited to see the show.

"Dusty, girls, we're all so proud of you two." Mayday said as he and his new firefighters hung back.

"Thanks, Mayday." Dusty said gratefully.

"What you did for me, for all of us," Mayday looked like he tried really hard to not choke up. "I want to thank you."

"You don't have to thank us." Dusty said.

"Yes, yes, I do." Mayday said. "To do what you did….it takes a special kind of plane. And no small amount of bravery on your part, girls."

#########################################

Everyone in the bleachers set up near the runway watched excitedly as they waited for the show to start.

Chug nodded. "Ladies and gentleplanes, turn your attention to the skies for today's aerial presentation. The Propwash Junction Corn Festival is proud to present the Piston Peak Air Attack team and our very own world champion racers and firefighters Dusty Crophopper, Ashley Jakins and Crow Patterson!"

The Smokejumpers leaped out of Cabbie, leaving trails of water in their wake before deploying their chutes and beginning to float down towards the ground. We led the way as we, Blade, Nick, Windlifter and Dipper came up towards the runway, where several ramps waited. Blade and I exchanged smiles before the aircraft split up. Dipper, Blade, Nick and Windlifter pulled ahead first, dropping water from their tanks to the amazement of the crowd. Once the Smokejumpers reached their dropping points, they slid down the half pipes and ramps and began performing tricks alongside each other. I half-expected them to crash into one another, but it seemed all their practice out on the base paid off as the ground team performed gracefully and skilfully. We came up last, the two speeding along and Dusty pushing his engine deep into the red. He smiled when the alarm on his panel remained silent, and he looked to see his friends smiling proudly at him.

Dusty shot off, turning up and looping around in the air. At the top of his loop, I activated my curse mark and stood up holding onto Dusty's canopy. Crow yelled something out.

The team banked around to pass Blade, Dusty pulling up last and dropping his load of water. I flung a wave of water out as we finished the performance.

THE END


End file.
